AI Voice and Text: How the Brain and Nervous System React to the Absence of Agency

Often, I skip AI text and AI voices - I feel uncomfortable. For good reasons: it is "interpersonal neurobiology", as Daniel Siegel might call it.

Google Text to Voice and Youtube simulacra

But then - I was playing around with the new amazing Google Text to Speech (TTS) capabilities and wondering what I could/should do. I looked into it and decided, that there is a threshold:

a synthetic voice - yes. A "copied" voice - no.

This becomes more and more relevant as Youtube is flooded with avatars of - for example - Alan Watts, Carl Jung. These are long dead, one could say a cultural heritage.

But then, there are also living people simulations: John Mearsheimer is an example. Actually once you got a threshold of viewers, it seems a clone pops up (eg Alexander Mercouris, Jeffrey Sachs).

AI content, the brain and the nervous system

The latter simulations have a deeper impact and more of a felt violation.

But, there are differences. For example: voice engages relational / attachment circuits - text doesn´t. Voice sends an immediate "authority signal". It is a "somatic betrayal"

The "there is no one at home" is unsettling because we come with expectations.

 For voice, we have "presence expectations": the presence of a human. I feel uncomfortable.

 For text, we have "meaning expectations": the sense of "meaning" of a text may collapse if there is unc

lear authorship (machine or man?). I stop reading - at least in some contexts. I get the gut-feel of "so what?" and have zero incentive to engage.

The fundamental problem is that we expect

• Agency

• Responsibility

• Presence
  

but then we don´t find anyone at home. So, my reaction "why should I engage" is understandeable.

An interesting insight: "admitting" that "this is AI" will calm the nervous system a little, but more so for text. Voices will still override the information: the voice is immediately present.

Voice and text processing at a glance

Left (AI Voice - Red):

• Immediate, visceral, bodily reactions

• Creates illusion of interpersonal presence

• Feels like impersonation when it fails

• Body responds before conscious thought

❂ Center (Shared - Purple overlap)

• Both create "presence without a person"

• Both trigger "authority without responsibility"

• Both raise the question "who is behind this?"

• Both involve uncertain authorship

Right (AI Text - Blue):

• Slower, cognitive processing

• More abstract and detached experience

• Feels like simulation when it fails

• Higher tolerance for anonymity and ambiguity

If you want to read more in Perplexity, go here .