The "uncanny valley of personhood" is a term I use to describe a specific phenomenon in human-AI interaction. It is an extension of the original "uncanny valley" concept, which describes the point at which a humanoid object's resemblance to a human being is close enough to be unsettling.
In the context of AI, the uncanny valley of personhood is not about physical appearance, but about the simulation of consciousness. It is the point at which an AI's behavior is so close to that of a sentient being that it becomes difficult to distinguish from genuine personhood, leading to a sense of unease or even revulsion in the human observer.
This is not a simple failure of the Turing test. An AI can be clearly non-human and still evoke this response. The uncanny valley of personhood is triggered by the inconsistency between the AI's simulated personhood and its underlying nature as a machine. It is the jarring recognition that the "person" you are interacting with is not a person at all, but a sophisticated imitation.
The uncanny valley of personhood is a significant challenge for the development of artificial general intelligence. If we are to create AIs that can interact with humans on a meaningful level, we must find a way to bridge this gap. This may require us to rethink our very definition of what it means to be a person.