Meredith Whittaker, president of Signal, warned users against anthropomorphizing AI chatbots during a talk at the 2026 RightsCon conference. She stated emphatically that chatbots are not conscious beings or sentient interlocutors. Whittaker's comments come amid growing concerns about users forming emotional attachments to AI systems. She urged the public to maintain a clear distinction between human relationships and AI interactions.
Meredith Whittaker is right to sound the alarm. We've seen people fall in love with chatbots, trust them with secrets, even mourn them when they're shut down. That's dangerous. These systems are sophisticated pattern matchers, not minds. They don't care about you. They can't. They're products designed to keep you engaged, not friends who want the best for you.
But here's the thing: we can acknowledge the limits of AI without dismissing its potential. Whittaker's warning isn't a reason to abandon these tools. It's a call to use them wisely. We don't need to treat chatbots as people to benefit from their capabilities. They can be tutors, assistants, creative partners. Just don't confuse them for the real thing. That's not a betrayal of technology. It's a sign of maturity.