In the Iliad, Hephaestus is assisted by artificial golden maidens endowed with capacities associated with living persons.

The ancient fantasy is already recognizably humanoid:

Can the made thing become sufficiently like its maker?

One of the most persistent fantasies is delegation.

The artificial being carries, assists, manufactures, obeys.

labor → delegated labor → autonomous labor

The machine performs what we cannot, will not, or no longer need to do ourselves.

A machine need not imitate the whole human.

It may instead extend a capacity.

lever → force

vehicle → movement

writing → memory

computer → calculation

artificial agent → cognition?