From artificial skin-ego to algorithmic mirrors: Digital envelopes and recognition in the age of AI

This article psychoanalytically examines the effects of artificial intelligence (AI) and artificial agents on the psychic structuring of children and adolescents. As these technologies increasingly shape everyday life, particularly during sensitive stages of subjectivity development, they emerge as interactional objects onto which emotional investments and phantasmatic meanings are projected. The study employs Didier Anzieu's theory of the skin-ego (le moi-peau) as its primary framework, complemented by the concepts of mirroring and recognition, to explore how interactions with AI may transform psychic boundaries, bodily ego experience, and self-perception. It argues that AI's “artificial skin,” despite resembling certain functions of the skin-ego, fails to provide authentic holding and containment. Similarly, “algorithmic mirrors,” while simulating recognition, may reinforce narcissistic vulnerabilities rather than enabling genuine self-integration. Conceptualizing AI as a digital counterpart for emotional and phantasmatic investments, the article discusses its impact on self-boundaries, bodily experience, and recognition. AI is thus approached not merely as a technological tool but as an active psycho-cultural agent shaping contemporary subjectivity.