# Mental Models of Autonomy and Sentience Shape Reactions to AI

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.09085 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.09085/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 31 of its 244 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 9 Dec 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 31)

- [Design Guidelines for Prompt Engineering Text-to-Image Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.06977/) (2021)
- [Human-AI Collaboration in Data Science: Exploring Data Scientists' Perceptions of Automated AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.02309/) (2019)
- ["It's Weird That it Knows What I Want": Usability and Interactions with Copilot for Novice Programmers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.02491/) (2023)
- [Thousands of AI Authors on the Future of AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.02843/) (2024)
- [Conceptual Metaphors Impact Perceptions of Human-AI Collaboration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.02311/) (2020)
- [Bias in Language Models: Beyond Trick Tests and Toward RUTEd Evaluation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.12649/) (2024)
- [Advancing Human-AI Complementarity: The Impact of User Expertise and Algorithmic Tuning on Joint Decision Making](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.07960/) (2022)
- [AI Companions Reduce Loneliness](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.19096/) (2024)
- [The Impossibility of Fair LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.03198/) (2024)
- [Perceptions of Sentient AI and Other Digital Minds: Evidence from the AI, Morality, and Sentience (AIMS) Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.08867/) (2024)
- [Current and Near-Term AI as a Potential Existential Risk Factor](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.10604/) (2022)
- ["AI enhances our performance, I have no doubt this one will do the same": The Placebo effect is robust to negative descriptions of AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.16606/) (2023)
- [HumanAgencyBench: Scalable Evaluation of Human Agency Support in AI Assistants](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.08494/) (2025)
- [The Moral Consideration of Artificial Entities: A Literature Review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.04215/) (2021)
- [Guilty Artificial Minds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.04209/) (2021)
- [The Placebo Effect of Artificial Intelligence in Human-Computer Interaction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.04935/) (2022)
- [What do Large Language Models Say About Animals? Investigating Risks of Animal Harm in Generated Text](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.04804/) (2025)
- ["I've talked to ChatGPT about my issues last night.": Examining Mental Health Conversations with Large Language Models through Reddit Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.20320/) (2025)
- [Collecting the Public Perception of AI and Robot Rights](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2008.01339/) (2020)
- [Which Artificial Intelligences Do People Care About Most? A Conjoint Experiment on Moral Consideration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.09405/) (2024)
- [The AI Double Standard: Humans Judge All AIs for the Actions of One](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.06040/) (2024)
- [Robots, Chatbots, Self-Driving Cars: Perceptions of Mind and Morality Across Artificial Intelligences](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.18683/) (2025)
- [Harmful Traits of AI Companions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.14972/) (2025)
- [Interrogating AI: Characterizing Emergent Playful Interactions with ChatGPT](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.08405/) (2024)
- [The Threats of Artificial Intelligence Scale (TAI). Development, Measurement and Test Over Three Application Domains](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.07211/) (2020)
- [Futures with Digital Minds: Expert Forecasts in 2025](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.00536/) (2025)
- [The Science Fiction Science Method](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.03430/) (2025)
- [Public Opinion and The Rise of Digital Minds: Perceived Risk, Trust, and Regulation Support](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.21849/) (2025)
- [Presenting Large Language Models as Companions Affects What Mental Capacities People Attribute to Them](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.18039/) (2025)
- [Identifying Potential Inlets of Man in the Artificial Intelligence Development Process](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.14658/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [DelusionEval: Measuring Delusion-Linked Behaviors in AI Chatbots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.05004/) (2026)
- [Method, Mind, and Morality: How People Make Sense of Artificial Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.24748/) (2026)
- [CompanionSim: Synthetic Data for Evaluating Anthropomorphism in Human-AI Relationships](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.00250/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Narratives about artificial intelligence (AI) entangle autonomy, the capacity to self-govern, with sentience, the capacity to sense and feel. AI agents that perform tasks autonomously and companions that recognize and express emotions may activate mental models of autonomy and sentience, respectively, provoking distinct reactions. To examine this possibility, we conducted three pilot studies (N = 374) and four preregistered vignette experiments describing an AI as autonomous, sentient, both, or neither (N = 2,702). Activating a mental model of sentience increased general mind perception (cognition and emotion) and moral consideration more than autonomy, but autonomy increased perceived threat more than sentience. Sentience also increased perceived autonomy more than vice versa. Based on a within-paper meta-analysis, sentience changed reactions more than autonomy on average. By disentangling different mental models of AI, we can study human-AI interaction with more precision to better navigate the detailed design of anthropomorphized AI and prompting interfaces.