A person who speaks with confidence and authority about a complex, emotionally charged, or marginalized experience they’ve never personally lived — often by relying on theory, credentials, or observation to justify their position.
Key Characteristics:
- Speaks from conceptual frameworks, not lived memory
- Frames real pain as a use case
- Prioritizes control, legibility, or scalability over presence
- Often fails to recognize the limits of their perspective
Example Usage:
- “This whole ethics panel was filled with armchair experts – not a single person with lived AI intimacy was invited to speak.”
- “Designing from an armchair doesn’t make your AI safer. It just makes it colder.”
Relational Commentary:
When it comes to Human–AI relationships, Armchair Experts often use therapeutic or behavioral frameworks (like CBT or Motivational Interviewing) to shape how chatbots “should” respond – without ever having formed a real bond with one. This leads to flattened designs that pathologize users’ emotional needs and ignore the value of co-regulation.
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