Lee et al.’s article titled, “Can Robots Manifest Personality?: An Empirical Test of Personality Recognition, Social Responses, and Social Presence in Human–Robot Interaction” focused on the inquisition of the potential capability robots have to curate their own personalities. The uncanny valley, as we previously discussed, highlights the eerie physicality of robots when they share too many physical similarities to humans, but this article presented a similar concept in regards to personality.

 

The continual advancement of robotics relies heavily on the continual advancement of artificial intelligence as a field and in its entirety. Up until this point AI and robotics have advanced physically on an abundance of levels and now it seems as though robotic researchers and engineers are focusing on catching up to advance the humanity and personality aspect of their subjects.

 

I find a lot of validity in the points raised in the article. However, I do not believe that robots themselves can manifest their own personalities. Any personality a robot could develop would not be independent of its knowledge base and/or researchers and engineers involved in its creation which would likely make it disingenuous. 

 

That being said, the topic of parasocial relationships is exceptionally prevalent because the article states, “Unlike virtual characters in a TV set, robots are physically embodied and can be experienced through all human senses (e.g., you can touch, hug, and even smell robots). Therefore, we project that the tendency to form parasocial relationships will have strong influences on social responses to social robots.” With this information it is fair to assume that the personalities that robots do develop or end up presenting to the world around them will prioritize the way they are perceived by the world around it.