AI as a Mountain Shepherd’s Doll, a Trusted Companion, and a Tool with Intellectual Reciprocity

Essay

Authors

  • Mario Schlegel

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30820/1664-9583-2026-2-35

Keywords:

AI, anthropomorphism, hubris, androids, mythology, and the collective unconscious

Abstract

AI, as a new technological tool that is transforming many aspects of our lives, is examined from a mythological perspective, incorporating insights from evolutionary biology and psychotherapy. This paper posits that AI represents a contemporary manifestation of the myth of creating artificial humans, as already expressed by the ancient Greeks. At that time, this was considered a sacrilege against the gods. Today, there is a danger that AI will become a sacrilege against the nature of humans as self-determined individuals. The Sennenpuppe, a legendary motif from the Alps, serves as an example illustrating this problem. Parallels emerge between the doll that came to life and acted independently in the legend and current developments surrounding AI. Will it be used as an instrument for exercising power or as a tool that serves everyone? Or will it subjugate us and act independently, beyond our control? Maintaining control over AI will determine whether it leads to a social utopia or dystopia. On an individual level, when interacting with AI, its anthropomorphization emerges as a problem–a fact that stems from our social capabilities.

Author Biography

Mario Schlegel

Dr. sc. nat. Mario Schlegel promovierte an der ETH Zürich in Verhaltenswissenschaften über psychophysiologische Reaktionen beim Wort-Assoziationstest, absolvierte eine Ausbildung zum Psychotherapeuten am C. G. Jung-Institut Zürich, ist daselbst Dozent und Lehranalytiker, ehemaliger Vorsitzender der Wissenschaftskommission der Schweizer Charta für Psychotherapie und Co-Präsident des Internationalen Netzwerks Forschung und Entwicklung in der Analytischen Psychologie Dreiländergruppe (INFAP3) sowie Mitbegründer und Redaktor der Psychotherapie-Wissenschaft.
31341

Downloads

How to Cite

Schlegel, M. (2026). AI as a Mountain Shepherd’s Doll, a Trusted Companion, and a Tool with Intellectual Reciprocity: Essay. Psychotherapie-Wissenschaft, 16(2), 35–41. https://doi.org/10.30820/1664-9583-2026-2-35

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 2 (2026): KI in der Psychotherapie

Section

Essay

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 Unported License.

This journal provides open access to its content in accordance with the basic premise that the free public availability of research benefits the exchange of knowledge throughout the world.

Authors wishing to publish in this journal agree to the following:

  1. The author/s retain/s the copyrights and consent/s to initial publication of the work in the journal under a Creative Commons Attribution licence, which allows third parties to use the work by citing the name/s of the author/s and this journal as initial publisher (in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 DE-Licence).
  1. The author/s can enter into additional contracts for the non-exclusive distribution (e.g. publish in a collection or book) of the version published in the journal, if the journal is cited as initial publisher.