No, they are not.

They are doing some things which have some similarities, which is why some people get confused about this.

Let’s start by considering why they aren’t trying to make AIs feel like humans.

Firstly - there is no way to make a machine feel like a human. We don’t even know how a Human feels, but it is very clear that it has a lot to do with having a biological body. When you feel anxious your heart beat rises and your diaphragm tightens up. Your lips go dry, your throat contracts, you start to sweat and may start to tremble. An AI can do none of these things.

Secondly - there is no benefit to making a machine feel like a Human Being so why should anyone put any effort into doing so?

Thirdly - no one wants machines to behave like Human Beings either. Human Beings do irrational crazy things. You don’t want your military robots to run away because they are cowards. You don’t want your AIs being proud, lustful, angry, envious, lazy, gluttonous, or avaricious (the 7 ‘deadly sins’). Human’s get tired. We don’t want AIs to get tired, let alone sleep. We want them to work all day and night. We don’t want them getting irritable, hungry, petulant, ambitious, clumsy, competitive etc.

What they ARE doing is trying to make AIs that can interface with Human Beings. They want them to be able to ‘simulate’ Human expressions, intonations, and interpersonal behaviours. This is very useful in customer service industries, employment situations, age care and health care environments, and potentially, some day, in sex work too.

It is important to understand the difference between ‘simulating’, or ‘mimicking’, Human Behaviour, and actually behaving and feeling like a Human.

If you act like a dog for a play, (such as Sylvia (play) - Wikipedia ) you may be mimicking a dog, but you are very much still Human, and you don’t really feel like a dog.

In most situations it helps if the AI understands Human Behaviour.

In many situations it helps if AI’s can interface smoothly with Humans without making the Humans uncomfortable.

Since many environments have been designed for Humans, it often helps if AI robots can operate within those environments by having a humanoid form and agility.

So some AI developers are working on making robots that can act somewhat like Human Beings in at least some ways. And they do want them to be able to understand, interpret and make allowances for Human feelings and emotions. But they really aren’t trying to make AI robots that think, feel, or behave like Humans. We’ve got plenty of Humans. We want to make something better - at least for particular tasks.

Hope this helps.