Why A.I. Can Seem Sentient. Guest: Nir Eisikovits, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy; Director, Applied Ethics Center, University of Massachusetts-Boston. The AIEX project at the Applied Ethics Center at UMass-Boston investigates our interactions with AI, especially our tendency to imagine that technologies such as chatbots have human-like awareness. Although projecting consciousness on non-sentient objects is an ancient human tendency, AI introduces worrisome complications. Dr. Eisikovits discusses the psychological effect of communicating with sophisticated AI technologies, and explains why we need guardrails to protect against both manipulation and misinformation.