AI Personhood as Socially Designed and Enacted Interaction

Anthropomorphism—the human propensity to attribute human characteristics to nonhuman entities—has long preoccupied cognitive psychology, philosophy, and human–computer interaction. Yet the term is frequently mobilized as a catch-all label, potentially obscuring crucial differences among design strategies, user inferences, and social norms. Drawing on classical philosophy, Roman legal theory, psychology, and contemporary human–computer interaction research, this article offers a systematic framework that disaggregates anthropomorphism into seven interlocking constructs: anthropomimesis, ethopoiesis, impersonation, identification, theory of mind, theory of machine, and personification. This article argues that personification—understood as role-based recognition—constitutes the pivotal bridge between technical design and social expectations. The resulting model clarifies how humans design, interpret, and govern intelligent artifacts, and it suggests practical guidelines for ethically responsible AI and robot design.