uncanny valley

[uhn-kan-ee val-ee]

noun

1. 1. a psychological concept that describes the feelings of unease or revulsion that people tend to have toward artificial representations of human beings, as robots or computer animations, that closely imitate many but not all the features and behaviors of actual human beings.

   2. the dip in positive feelings toward such artificial representations.

Word History and Origins

Origin of uncanny valley¹

1970; coined by Masahiro Mori, Japanese roboticist (born 1927), from Japanese bukimi no tani (genshō) “uncanny valley (phenomenon)”