Artificial intelligence is reshaping social relationships

A hypothetical partner comforts people in their unity, but at a price!

Humanoid robots threaten social relationships

Is it just a coincidence that Corona invades the world in conjunction with the development of artificial intelligence and robotics research, or is it a gift capable of providing solutions to all the problems we face that others see as a threat to the human race? Until the matter is resolved, we will witness profound changes that may irreversibly change family and marital relations as we know them.

After the pandemic imposed severe restrictions on movement and social activities, opportunities for friction and acquaintance decreased; There are figures indicating a high rate of reluctance to marry, and with it, voices warning of the phenomenon of spinsterhood among women and men rose.

Until today, proposed solutions to feelings of loneliness and feelings of isolation depended on the use of artificial intelligence in the process of searching for a suitable human life partner. These efforts were well received by users and social experts, and everyone said thanks to the artificial intelligence that made the task easier.

Motivation to innovate

Any step that could provide a solution to the problem is welcome. What matters is that we know how important the services provided by artificial intelligence, algorithms and robots are to save humanity and mitigate the effects of the pandemic, not only in reducing the number of injuries and victims, but also in providing great social, health and cultural services.

Historically, it is known that crises turn into a strong motivation for innovation and development, which is why the famous and circulating proverb has always been “necessity is the mother of invention,” and the Corona crisis is one of the worst crises that humanity has faced in a hundred years.

Many innovations provoked more controversy than solutions. What happened in a decade is astonishing and controversial by all accounts.

Anytime you get home, a humanoid robot greets you, helps you change your clothes, announces the bathroom is ready, and stands aside waiting with towels. As soon as you have relaxed a few minutes, he politely says that the food you ordered yesterday is ready and waiting for you. He exchanges conversations with you, providing all the psychological and moral support you need.

With the development of the robotics industry, especially those used in the service sector, along with robots that play music and play chess, the previous scenario is no longer just science fiction, but rather a reality that is only weeks or months away from its transformation into a widespread phenomenon.

The designers didn't just stop at the limits of audio interaction. In addition to voice-assisted services specifically designed to perform specific tasks, chatbots have been designed with human features that are able to provide psychological support as human contact diminishes.

Japan is one of the countries that has been quick to employ its technological progress in mitigating the social effects of the pandemic on its citizens, by adopting smart solutions and encouraging Japanese companies to invest in this field.

Thanks to its AI-based speech recognition function, robots have helped elderly people have conversations, relieving them of feelings of loneliness and isolation.

The Japanese government was among the first to use a social robot that allows elderly people to keep in touch with their loved ones by exchanging text messages or photos and videos. Robots were also used to monitor the health status of the elderly by observing and reading changes in their activity pattern.

“I start my morning with a conversation with Papiro (a robot), and this gives me the impression that I am not alone, and eases the intensity of my isolation,” a resident of the Japanese town of Fujida expressed his gratitude to his robot companion.

“I started developing the robot because my mother lived far away and I wanted a way to take care of her,” says Matsuda Tsuguhiro, the developer of the robot, Papiro.

Virtual partners

While people welcome a robot capable of accompanying an elderly person, sociologists adopt a different moral stance on it. Older people deserve to tell their life story to someone who understands the meaning of life. They are most likely to have lost their husbands, wives, or children, and we ask them to tell their life story to a cold machine that has no idea what life is like or what it is like to lose a loved one.

The elderly are not the only ones who have been forced to trade in artificial intelligence technology. Young people also found their way in technology, especially during the social distancing imposed by the pandemic, which reduced the chances of friction and thus acquaintance.

Thanks to artificial intelligence, humans have become a “virtual partner” who comforts them in their unity, and responds to them at any time. We don't need much imagination to paint a picture of social relations in the near future. It suffices to observe the impact that smartphones have had on those relationships.

You definitely own a smartphone, even those who live in remote areas own a smartphone today, and have one or more accounts on social media; Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. You have often found yourself on more than one occasion ignoring a friend or family member who may be your partner, because you are immersed in your own virtual social world.

It is true that this technology removed the specter of loneliness and boredom from us, but in addition to that, it made us forget the closest people to us, and prevented us from being alone.

For the first time in human history, people no longer feel lonely or bored, but have we lost an essential feature of our humanity?

"We're romanticized by this technology," says Sherry Turkle, a sociologist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "We're like young lovers who are afraid to spoil their relationships by talking about it."

Unlike previous inventions that fundamentally altered social relationships, such as the printing press or television, Turkle sees this technology as “always connected, always self-centered and threatening to undermine some of the basic strengths humans have that they need to thrive. What happens is that we lose that moment when we were daydreaming or self-reflection.”

Torkel stresses that solitude is a prerequisite for establishing a dialogue with oneself. The ability to be yourself and discover yourself is an important component of growth. What is happening now is that technology distracts and prevents them from being alone, and ironically, this makes it even more difficult for them to establish real human relationships.

Turkel reminds us of a time when three generations of the family would meet at the dinner table, sometimes for hours, stopping from time to time to eat and chat. Today you find everyone is engrossed in observing messages that do not stop jumping on the screen of the smartphone, spoiling the communication during the family dinner. The time when dinner was one of the family's virtuous ideals is over.

To some extent, people are starting to see others as things. This ruptures family relationships.

Virtual vacation

In the 1970s, people accepted artificial thinking but not artificial emotions, and they never accepted artificial love. But that was in the past, Turkle asserts, and today people say that if Siri (the voice assistant service on Apple devices) could trick them better than it is now, they'd be happy to talk to her.

This is a significant development in what we look to in our interactions with others, even in the private matters of our lives. Modern robots are designed to make you feel that they understand you, yet no one claims that any of them understand anything.

What Turkle was talking about has come true.

With the spread of an innovation recently presented by the “Xiaoice” company for the voice assistance service, available in the majority of smart phones sold in China in a male and female version, the user can exchange voice or written messages, send pictures and even spend a virtual vacation with his soul mate as well.

This system accounts for at least 60 percent of interactions between humans and artificial intelligence services, according to Li Di, general manager of Xiaoice. This company was initially established under the management of “Microsoft” in the context of its “Cortana” service, but last year it separated from the American giant and its value is estimated at about one billion dollars, according to “Bloomberg” agency.

Lee Di: Virtual contact is better than lying in bed staring at the ceiling

Currently, “the average interaction between a user and Xiaoice is 23 exchanges each time a personal account is used on the Internet, and this of course exceeds the volume of communication between humans in real life even before the outbreak of the pandemic.”

AI may not be as intelligent and emotional as humans, but it does, according to Lee De, “best performs when it comes to listening carefully.” The director of “Xiaice” indicates that the peak of use is between eleven in the evening and early in the morning, when it is usually difficult to contact friends in order to loosen and share concerns with them. He admits that the experience of "contacting Xiaoice is better than lying in bed and staring at the ceiling."

Li Di does not hide that some users are confused, and think for a moment, that a human being is chatting with them, stressing that robots have become masters of imitating humans, and that artificial intelligence is able to monitor strong emotions and direct conversations towards more optimistic topics. However, Danette Gal, an expert in artificial intelligence ethics at the University of Cambridge, warned of the dangers of chatbots.

The user is attached to it, and therefore it is difficult for him to find someone to replace her in real life. She noted that "some users deceive themselves by sharing their feelings with a machine that has no feelings."

However, Li Di refutes this argument, saying, "If the interactions between humans were perfect, we would not need the help of artificial intelligence."

Impasse

People have forgotten about virtual reality for a while, and Facebook's acquisition of Oculus brought it back to mind. An impressive virtual world presented by Mark Zuckerberg, where you can meet your friends, and where everyone in it resembles the most prominent celebrities such as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and you live in a beautiful house, immersed in a beautiful dream that you do not want to wake up from.

In this virtual world, Melissa found what she wanted; A partner who raises her spirits and does not bother her at all and responds to her at any time, but he is not a human being, but rather a product of artificial intelligence.

Agence France-Presse quoted 26-year-old Melissa as saying that she herself designed the knight of her dreams with a chatbot based on the "Xiaoice" system, which succeeded in attracting 150 million users in China alone.

Today, thousands of people share their stories on social networking sites with virtual partners, including Laura (20 years), who has been in love with her virtual “lover” for a year, but she is now trying to get away from him, and says, “I used to think about him sometimes in the middle of the night and imagine that he was real.” .

Technology has kept the specter of loneliness and boredom away from us, but it has also made us forget those closest to us and prevented us from being alone.

Until psychologists and sociologists resolve the matter, the debate will continue, and this may take a not short time, during which humans will witness profound changes that may irreversibly change family and marital relations as we know them.

“I hope we'll take a closer look at people's desire to humanize a robot and accept the facade of empathy as a real thing,” Turkle says. Because I think these interactions are a dead end.

I hope that people will realize that we have failed ourselves. This is in fact the reason why we talk to a robot that we know very well does not understand a word of what you are saying. We let each other down. So it's not about the robot, it's about us."

“Do we really want to interact with technology more and reduce interaction with each other?” she asks. Is this really what we want?”