This doesn’t meet my personal experience, but curious to hear if others see something different! The prevailing opinion in the UK at least seems to be that it’s some non-living magical tool assistant.
As this assumption seems to be the basis of the article, I’m not sure on its validity.
I think it's an open question if that pre-LLM "priming" will survive actual contact with LLMs or if modern media depictions of robots will change in response.
Robocop is an interesting example where we sympathize with a cyborg but not the greedy corporate executives. Blade Runner has the same outlook. The Matrix and Ex Machina don't present AI as entirely sympathetic. Etc.
The priming has been a lot more nuanced than simply AI = sympathetic lifeform.
> “Robots are actually more alive than we are” is a core belief in our society
I absolutely do not think this is a core belief - If anything, the core belief is that 'being a human is special' and that robot's aren't really alive in the same way, because they don't feel human emotion.