English

8bit-GPT: Exploring Human-AI Interaction on Obsolete Macintosh Operating Systems

Human-Computer Interaction 2025-11-10 v1 Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

The proliferation of assistive chatbots offering efficient, personalized communication has driven widespread over-reliance on them for decision-making, information-seeking and everyday tasks. This dependence was found to have adverse consequences on information retention as well as lead to superficial emotional attachment. As such, this work introduces 8bit-GPT; a language model simulated on a legacy Macintosh Operating System, to evoke reflection on the nature of Human-AI interaction and the consequences of anthropomorphic rhetoric. Drawing on reflective design principles such as slow-technology and counterfunctionality, this work aims to foreground the presence of chatbots as a tool by defamiliarizing the interface and prioritizing inefficient interaction, creating a friction between the familiar and not.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2511.05025,
  title  = {8bit-GPT: Exploring Human-AI Interaction on Obsolete Macintosh Operating Systems},
  author = {Hala Sheta},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.05025},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

NeurIPS Creative AI Track 2025: Humanity

R2 v1 2026-07-01T07:25:44.836Z