Following the White Rabbit: From Alice in Wonderland to Alice in the World of Artificial Intelligence

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland offers more than literary fantasy; it presents a structural model of cognitive exploration through dialogical encounters. This paper proposes that Alice’s interactions with Wonderland’s characters provide a compelling metaphor—and theoretical precursor—for contemporary human interaction with artificial intelligence, particularly large language models (LLMs). Like Alice, modern users embark on epistemic journeys initiated by curiosity, entering unfamiliar cognitive terrains populated not by animals and riddlers, but by artificial interlocutors. These interlocutors do not merely transmit information; they participate in shaping thought through reflection, reframing, and dialogical engagement. Drawing on philosophy of mind, cognitive science, and human–AI interaction theory, the paper argues that AI functions as a cognitive partner within an extended epistemic ecology. Each encounter—whether stabilizing identity, challenging assumptions, or expanding conceptual possibilities—mirrors the developmental function of Wonderland’s characters in Alice’s journey. Through sustained interaction, cognition is not simply expressed but stabilized and refined. Artificial interlocutors thus serve as scaffolds for metacognition, enabling users to articulate, examine, and reorganize their own thinking. The paper advances a dialogical model of cognition in which knowledge emerges through interaction rather than isolated internal processing. In this view, AI is neither merely a tool nor an autonomous knower, but a participant in the co-construction of meaning. By revisiting Wonderland as a cognitive allegory, this paper illuminates the emerging role of artificial intelligence as an integral component of human cognitive development and epistemic exploration in the digital age.