[AI by our side] Can artificial intelligence communicate with humans?

2024-07-04

It is said that the 4th Industrial Revolution brought about a hyperconnected society* where people can connect anytime, anywhere. However, modern people living in a hyperconnected society are complaining of loneliness. With just a smartphone, you can connect to the world 24 hours a day, but it is an age where it has become more difficult to share the natural emotional exchange of human beings.

Furthermore, the increase in single-person households and the colossal pandemic situation are making people more lonely. For this reason, the number of people living with pets such as dogs and cats is also increasing. In order to overcome the feeling of alienation they feel in real life, many people instead fall in love with the connections provided by technology.

The potential of artificial intelligence to solve loneliness

If so, can AI, an advanced technology, be the solution for these people?

Of course, the latest technology has yet to reach the level of sharing emotional exchanges with humans. Let's think about voice recognition AI services that have become part of everyday life. At this point, we can see that sharing a friendship with AI and falling in love is nothing more than a sci-fi imagination.

However, AI technology is rapidly becoming more advanced. Rather, it is a situation where dealing with ethical issues and social issues associated with technological development is not keeping up with this.

Now I'd like to think more about this through two real-life examples.

Project December**

<블랙 미러 (Black Mirror) >Of the Netflix series, sources

There is an episode <블랙 미러 (Black Mirror) > related to this in a Netflix drama. It's about making an AI chatbot using posts left by a dead boyfriend. However, something similar happened in real life.

I recently read an article about a man who saved his dead fiancé using a chatbot. He says he used a chatbot service that users can customize to have a conversation with his deceased fiancé. Of course, as his story became known to the world, it caused a lot of controversy.

The project December he used is a chatbot site using Open AI*** GPT-3****. However, unlike traditional chatbots, you can design your own bot. So he decides to talk to his dead fiancee.

He used the messages he had exchanged with his girlfriend during his life. It is said that the more conversations they had later, the GPT-3 based chatbot began to use a tone similar to her. Naturally, he fell in love with her and was able to find comfort with AI technology for a while.

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The first conversation I had with my fiancé who died using Project December, sources

However, we have seen the side effects of this AI chatbot technology many times. It became a problem when language prejudice and violence were revealed during machine learning. Someone may misuse the chatbot's customization features with bad intentions, and problems with protecting personal information or privacy may occur.

However, there is no denying that it is a technology that can provide comfort to people who are heartbroken, such as the loss of a loved one.

Abyss Creations (Abyss Creations), Harmony (Harmony)

If the previous example chose emotional communication with AI, then Harmony pursues physical communication. Of course, we can't avoid the controversy over commercialization of sex. Abyss Creations develops and sells Harmony, a type of robot equipped with AI technology in existing real dolls.

Abyss Creations CEO Matt McMullen and harmony, sources

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Harmony is said to be able to create the desired shape by selecting more than 20 characteristics, such as personality and tone of voice, and give the user the same feeling as the partner next to them.***** With the development of technology, it has become closer to imagination in science fiction. Perhaps for some people, harmony that adapts to what you want is the ideal partner.

But can this really be considered a normal relationship or love? It is still difficult to clear the question of whether it is possible to have a true communication or partnership with an AI robot. Even modern people can't solve their loneliness by interacting with real people online.

Furthermore, since these AI robots will closely interact with humans, the potential risk is not small. Because almost all personal information about users can be converted into data. Social problems far more serious than personal information leakage, which has recently become an issue, may occur, and in extreme cases, hacked robots may harm their owners.

However, I'm not sure if it's correct to predict a future where people will interact with AI robots based on current ethical standards. Maybe our sense of rejection may also one day become prejudice or discrimination.

While finishing

It seems that what people expect from AI in the future is not just an increase in convenience. Eventually, you'll want more humane emotional communication than what you want from today's pets. There are even future prospects that it will be possible to have a relationship with a robot, get married, or even give birth.

AI in science fiction naturally communicates and communicates with human protagonists. They even think about why they exist. It may still be just an imagination, but maybe the day is not too far away when we have to face AI, which has an independent self that communicates with humans.

However, it is questionable whether humanity is ready to face such AI in the near future. We are already experiencing problems due to isolation and alienation even though we have created a world where we are always connected. After all, for a successful future where AI coexists, above all else, social consensus must be carried out along with sufficient consideration of various related ethical issues.

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