--- title: It’s time to retire the term “user” | daily.dev description: The post explores the history and implications of using the term 'user' in technology and suggests adopting more precise terms to describe the people and AI... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-time-to-retire-the-term-user--tdlbxbdvd twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: It’s time to retire the term “user” | daily.dev og:description: The post explores the history and implications of using the term 'user' in technology and suggests adopting more precise terms to describe the people and AI... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-time-to-retire-the-term-user--tdlbxbdvd og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/tDlbXBDvD.png og:image:alt: It’s time to retire the term “user” og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # It’s time to retire the term “user” **[MIT Technology Review](https://daily.dev/sources/technologyreview)** · 4 min read · 29 upvotes · 22 comments ## Summary The post explores the history and implications of using the term 'user' in technology and suggests adopting more precise terms to describe the people and AI technology interacts with. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@pitops** · 19 upvotes > So this is the new master -> main branch BS. Why are people so triggered with words? Literally anyone going to a website or an app and interacting with it, is USING it. **@razrdev** · 14 upvotes > Why? What is this rewriting of so much terminology? Is this generation hell-bent on just confusing everyone out of the industry or something? They're users because it doesn't matter if they're humans, bots, cats or dogs. > > All that matters is that its an entity that is using your software, and thus a user, which is a beautiful term that simplifies things greatly by boiling it down to the common essential aspect, but perhaps too simple for a generation obsessed with manufacturing confusion and complexity and changing things that work perfectly fine just for the sake of doing it and pretending... **@noricode** · 9 upvotes > We use "Target" or "cattle" **@mutasimalmualimi** · 4 upvotes > you are a racist, bots have feelings too. we are all "users" **@rubenlozanome** · 4 upvotes > I agree with the rest. I don't understand the idea of changing the naming. Why do we need to change the terminology? --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#human-computer-interaction](https://daily.dev/tags/human-computer-interaction), [#nlp](https://daily.dev/tags/nlp), [#tech-news](https://daily.dev/tags/tech-news), [#ux](https://daily.dev/tags/ux) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-time-to-retire-the-term-user--tdlbxbdvd) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"It’s time to retire the term “user”","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-time-to-retire-the-term-user--tdlbxbdvd","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-time-to-retire-the-term-user--tdlbxbdvd"},"datePublished":"2024-04-19T09:13:55.498Z","dateModified":"2025-09-06T02:34:26.181Z","description":"The post explores the history and implications of using the term 'user' in technology and suggests adopting more precise terms to describe the people and AI...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/425c6c45d453413b294dbe59fbad4822?_a=AQAEufR","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/425c6c45d453413b294dbe59fbad4822?_a=AQAEufR","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"MIT Technology Review","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"MIT Technology Review","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/a8d03889722f4f22b3986e0b395ff076","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/technologyreview"},"commentCount":22,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-time-to-retire-the-term-user--tdlbxbdvd","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":29},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":22}],"keywords":"ai,human-computer-interaction,nlp,tech-news,ux","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MIT Technology Review","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/technologyreview"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"It’s time to retire the term “user”"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-time-to-retire-the-term-user--tdlbxbdvd","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"So this is the new master -> main branch BS. Why are people so triggered with words? Literally anyone going to a website or an app and interacting with it, is USING it.","datePublished":"2024-04-27T07:39:22.830Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/tDlbXBDvD#c-sUxy30GcS","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Petros Kyriakou","url":"https://daily.dev/pitops","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a-/AOh14GjtkrvD36NQCQ1zlCHqbSnK9Qks44zzP9LNVqTUdRM=s100"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":19}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Why? What is this rewriting of so much terminology? Is this generation hell-bent on just confusing everyone out of the industry or something? They’re users because it doesn’t matter if they’re humans, bots, cats or dogs.\nAll that matters is that its an entity that is using your software, and thus a user, which is a beautiful term that simplifies things greatly by boiling it down to the common essential aspect, but perhaps too simple for a generation obsessed with manufacturing confusion and complexity and changing things that work perfectly fine just for the sake of doing it and pretending they’re accomplishing something.","datePublished":"2024-04-27T18:24:49.640Z","dateModified":"2024-04-27T18:27:22.498Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/tDlbXBDvD#c-KzEBBFWmN","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"razrdev","url":"https://daily.dev/razrdev","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--Fx4ROC7H--/f_auto/v1711638521/avatars/avatar_IvKOrKIQrHj4thioTjE0W"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":14}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"We use “Target” or “cattle”","datePublished":"2024-04-26T19:05:36.141Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/tDlbXBDvD#c-do9wgOVUo","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"noricode","url":"https://daily.dev/noricode","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/v1672934357/avatars/avatar_v9I0Ty3qOPTDx9IvWetC0.jpg"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":9}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"you are a racist, bots have feelings too. we are all “users”","datePublished":"2024-04-29T05:35:17.864Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/tDlbXBDvD#c-aPzNusvp7","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Mutasim Al-Mualimi","url":"https://daily.dev/mutasimalmualimi","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--mrKA2x2A--/f_auto/v1720301571/avatars/avatar_w85o2Vh8lZhtlvRqdyOBM"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":4}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"I agree with the rest. I don’t understand the idea of changing the naming. Why do we need to change the terminology?","datePublished":"2024-04-28T20:02:39.863Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/tDlbXBDvD#c-E4D48i2ik","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Ruben Lozano","url":"https://daily.dev/rubenlozanome","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--L4DYFSwj--/f_auto/v1712243849/avatars/avatar_RAVKGdknO72d58VPmEn4Y"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":4}}]} ```