{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,10]],"date-time":"2026-03-10T11:21:36Z","timestamp":1773141696545,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,15]],"date-time":"2022-10-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1665792000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,15]],"date-time":"2022-10-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1665792000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"name":"Swinburne University of Technology"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["AI &amp; Soc"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,6]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:p>Although social robots are achieving increasing prominence as companions and carers, their status as partners in an interactive relationship with humans remains unclear. The present paper explores this issue, first, by considering why social robots cannot truly qualify as \u201cThous\u201d, that is, as surrogate human partners, as they are often assumed to be, and then by briefly considering why it will not do to construe them as mere machines, slaves, or pets, as others have contended. Having concluded that none of these familiar designations does justice to social robots\u2019 still evolving and yet-to-be-defined status, I go on to consider whether engaging in a \u201crelational turn\u201d which prioritises the relationship over the entities in relation, can provide a more satisfactory alternative. In defending this stance, Damiano and Dumouchel (HUMANA.MENTE J Philos Stud 13:181\u2013206, 2020) contend that in addition to foregrounding the possibility that social robots constitute new types of artificial companions which we can find \u201ccompanionable in different ways\u201d, the relational turn has the added advantage of providing a more expansive and productive ethical framework for future research and development in this domain. But on balance, it is far from clear that this approach can circumvent the so-called \u201cdummy-human\u201d problem, the contention that social robots are little more than sophisticated toys with the potential to deceive their users about the prospects for genuine partnership and bonding. Accordingly, I conclude that while Damiano and Dumouchel\u2019s shift in \u201ctarget phenomenology\u201d brings to the fore facets of the interaction that may be difficult to infer by focussing on the relata alone, it is ultimately too \u201cthin\u201d to qualify as a template for robust human-robotic interaction of the sort that could qualify as a genuine partnership. Hence, while their relational turn has its merits in alerting us to the novel possibilities and challenges afforded by this ever-evolving technology and to the limitations of existing frameworks, it is contended that in itself it cannot provide an adequate template for conceptualising what a genuine human\u2013robot partnership might entail. Instead, we need a more expansive approach that can do greater justice to the complexities of human-robotic interaction in its continuities as well as differences from more familiar human (and animal) prototypes.\n<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1007\/s00146-022-01580-2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,15]],"date-time":"2022-10-15T09:02:48Z","timestamp":1665824568000},"page":"1243-1250","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Social robots as partners?"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"39","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1920-3778","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paul","family":"Healy","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,10,15]]},"reference":[{"issue":"37","key":"1580_CR1","first-page":"3","volume":"13","author":"M Balistreri","year":"2020","unstructured":"Balestrieri M, Liberati N (2020) Living with artificial intelligence. 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The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article. All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript. The authors have no financial or proprietary interests in any material discussed in this article.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Conflict of interest"}}]}}