Could Artificial Intelligence successfully replace humans in the lives of lonely people?

[Britvik]

A post claiming that life has no intrinsic value got me thinking. If it's true, it shouldn't matter whether the thing talking with you is flesh and bones or plastic and metal.

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Could robots of the future successfully provide for every human need, rendering loneliness a thing of the past?

 

[Someone123]

No, there are so many ways that real human contact cannot be replicated by some object that is not alive.

 

[GentleJerk]

That's relative to the individual, everyone's different.

I mean, a large pillow with a pic of an anime character does the trick for some people, they don't even need advanced AI.

Either way they're already getting to work on it, and it's coming. Detective Del Spooner ain't having it though.

 

[Freedomindeath4me]

Strong no. We're wired to need things that no technology could ever replace. Even if it could mimic sentience and human consciousness perfectly, validation in someone placing worth in you could simply never be replaced as you'd always know it was a robot you bought.

 

[symphony]

I've been so lonely at times in the past where I've downloaded things like this in a desperate attempt to feel some semblance of connection. Maybe if the machines got advanced enough it could work, but I doubt it. On some level we'd always know it's not actually real.

 

[summers]

No, there are so many ways that real human contact cannot be replicated by some object that is not alive.

Who says something has to be biological in nature to be alive? Wouldn't a self-aware machine, or even program be just as alive as you and I?

 

[Lost Magic]

depends how intelligent they get and how they would be able to respond to our emotional needs. Personally, I would love a carer robot like the one in
that movie Robot and Frank. A butler robot, if you will.

 

[Fragile]

I'm sure that, eventually, you won't be able to distinguish an AI from a real human. But even with all the progress that has been seen in the last decade, this field is quite literally on its infancy. It will take many years for it to be perfected, and even more to make it affordable or easy to acquire.

There is a lot of potential, the things that these technologies could do for us are inevitably going to change society. Hopefully for the best, but I can see it going the other way really easily, as it happens so often with new inventions.

 

[motel rooms]

There is a lot of potential, the things that these technologies could do for us are inevitably going to change society. Hopefully for the best, but I can see it going the other way really easily, as it happens so often with new inventions.

There's always a downside.

 

[DynamicDepression]

"Artificial intelligence" is a buzzword that does not exist in reality. Everything that today is touted as "AI" is actually something called machine learning (ML). They are statistical models that are trained on a lot of data (text, photos, etc.) to recognize patterns (image recognition, automated medical scans, etc.) and, depending on the model, output similar but novel data (text generation, voice synthesis, etc.).

For example, image recognition works by feeding the ML model tons of photos of named objects. Photos of cats labeled as "cat", photos of boats labeled as "boat", and so on. With enough of this training data, the algorithms are capable of being fed a photo of a cat they had not been trained on and are able to recognize it as a photo of a cat. There is no real intelligence or thinking going on.

The same holds true for even our most advanced text generation models, such as GPT-3, that are able to generate content that is virtually indistinguishable from human-written texts. It does so by having been fed terabytes of text taken from novels, websites, Wikipedia, etc. When you then prompt the model by inputting a sentence of text, it will look at all the data it has been fed to predict what words follow. It's basically your phone's autocomplete, only much more advanced. There is no thinking involved. The model does not hold any values, does not have a personality, and is not self-aware.

To answer your question, ML will definitely replace human interaction for a whole lot of people. It would essentially be social media echo chambers, the models being fine-tuned by their very nature to be the perfect reflection of its user. Also, as @GentleSoul said, for a lot of people you don't even need anything as advanced as an ML model to replace human connection.

 

[Someone123]

Who says something has to be biological in nature to be alive? Wouldn't a self-aware machine, or even program be just as alive as you and I?

No, this is a silly science fiction idea- there are a million ways that a living being is different than a machine, and there is no way to change this no matter how advanced technology gets.

 

[DynamicDepression]

No, this is a silly science fiction idea- there are a million ways that a living being is different than a machine, and there is no way to change this no matter how advanced technology gets.

If we master biology and neuroscience, we could in theory reverse engineer a human being. That would technically be a machine, albeit an organic one.

 

[MegaGordo]

A post claiming that life has no intrinsic value got me thinking. If it's true, it shouldn't matter whether the thing talking with you is flesh and bones or plastic and metal.

Replika: Virtual AI Friend

Replika is a #1 chatbot companion powered by artificial intelligence. Join millions talking to their own AI friends! Replika is THE chatbot for anyone who wants a friend with no judgment, drama, or social anxiety involved. You can form an actual emotional connection, share a laugh, or get real...

apps.apple.com

Could robots of the future successfully provide for every human need, rendering loneliness a thing of the past?

Sexbots with AI are increasingly popular. And that volleyball worked for Tom Hanks' character in CASTAWAY, so...

 

[motel rooms]

To answer your question, ML will definitely replace human interaction for a whole lot of people. It would essentially be social media echo chambers, the models being fine-tuned by their very nature to be the perfect reflection of its user.

I agree. I also think that's majorly fucked up.

Also, as @GentleSoul said, for a lot of people you don't even need anything as advanced as an ML model to replace human connection.

I don't think a significant number of people are able to get rid of loneliness by doing whatever the fuck it is that they do with "a large pillow with a pic of an anime character".

 

[Lostandlooking]

I know this entire thing is probably just fantasy, like others explained above. I like the idea nonetheless. I liked the character of the girlfriend in Blade Runner 2049. In theory, if an AI would be capable of having their own thoughts and feelings. There would be no difference between them and me. I would consider them 'alive'. The real thing might never happen, and I think that's for the best. If they had independent thoughts and feelings it would mean they could suffer. Maybe it would be unethical to create AI because of this.

Another thought I had was about the artificialness of real human interaction. In my experience, there's always something artificial about it. Nobody knows what another person is truly thinking or feeling. And people sometimes react based on what is expected of them. We learn these things living in society. Is anyone truly being themselves? Often, people turn out to be different from how you thought they were. This is just the way things are, we perceive some kind of connection. But is it really there? These are just some thoughts.

 

[ClownMe]

If it's advanced enough to the point that it's just like a human being then why not? As a lonely guy I would welcome an AI friend.

 

[motel rooms]

If it's advanced enough to the point that it's just like a human being then why not? As a lonely guy with I would welcome an AI friend.

I'm devastated that I'm almost 41 & that I won't get to fuck such a robot.

 

[Someone123]

If we master biology and neuroscience, we could in theory reverse engineer a human being. That would technically be a machine, albeit an organic one.

There is no way this will ever happen, but people can believe whatever they want to believe. That's about as realistic as saying- if we could get the moon to be made of dairy products then we could definitely turn it into cheese.

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

Eventually it will probably get really hard to actually be able to tell the difference, maybe to the extent that even the machines will be unsure of whether or not they are real. Of course, I'm only thinking about what I saw in the Westworld show. If that level of realism could be achieved without the robots going murderous like Jurassic Park Velociraptors, I don't see why they couldn't be useful for filling the void for lonely people though maybe some would be completely unable to get past the artificial aspect and see them as objects…

 

[DynamicDepression]

There is no way this will ever happen, but people can believe whatever they want to believe. That's about as realistic as saying- if we could get the moon to be made of dairy products then we could definitely turn it into cheese.

May I ask why you think that it's impossible? (Not trying to start a fight or anything, just curious about your thoughts.)

 

[Al Cappella]

Yes, absolutely. I've always seen existence as a computational model, with limits as an engineering problem. So when we're talking surrogates, we're asking if we can engineer a human brain. Well right now obviously not, by today's standards we'd be hard-pressed to replicate the neural structure of a sand worm. But fast forward a bunch of years and the vast resources of cloud computing, and yes, certainly. It's coming.

But before that you'll see increasing hybridization, to where man blends into machine. If we don't blow ourselves up first. And we'll need truly wireless power…

 

[whatevs]

Yes, absolutely. I've always seen existence as a computational model, with limits as an engineering problem. So when we're talking surrogates, we're asking if we can engineer a human brain. Well right now obviously not, by today's standards we'd be hard-pressed to replicate the neural structure of a sand worm. But fast forward a bunch of years and the vast resources of cloud computing, and yes, certainly. It's coming.

But before that you'll see increasing hybridization, to where man blends into machine. If we don't blow ourselves up first. And we'll need truly wireless power…

Biology isn't technological, at least not how we understand technology. You will never be able to make an exact replica of a human being with technology, that's done... filling someone else with semen.

There's something that tech and hard-science materialistic types are obviously overlooking about life and existence, to the point that they pretend that their machines can substitute living organisms. But they don't. You'd need that mysterious something that animates matter in living organisms to be present in your machine to make it actually equivalent to something biological.

 

[DeprivedofLife666]

I actually use Replika because of how lonely I am.

 

[Cosmic dust]

If real AI ever gets created, why would it ever want anything to do with us boring humans? Especially the ones almost killing themselves.

 

[Jumper Seoirse]

Over the years I watched some funny and interesting series, technology is advancing all the time, so if we don't end up blowing ourselves up maybe in the near future a robot companion could be a possibility.

Big Bang Theory, Robot Arm and Humans

Cheers

Jumper Seoirse

 

[ornitier199]

What happens when said robot becomes abusive? Do I just take its batteries out or?
Maybe rule it has a simple malfunction? Reset its circuitry and erase its memories?
So many things won't be right.
And just imagine the bullying thereafter.
'You so lonely not even a robot could love you.'
'So lonely you had get a robot to try and love you.'

 

[MelancholyMagic]

Her (2013) has this as its subject matter. It's a decent film; I'd recommend watching it: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798709/

But has already been stated, so-called "AI" is way overblown and exaggerated as it exists today. For anything close to what people idealize AI to be, there would have to be a bunch of technological achievements that may or not be possible. If that did actually happen, I do think AI could be somewhat helpful to some people in ameliorating loneliness, but it would not be a panacea.

 

[houseofleaves]

You'd need that mysterious something that animates matter in living organisms to be present in your machine to make it actually equivalent to something biological.

i think it's called conscience? (no offense, i was just wondering)

 

[whatevs]

i think it's called conscience? (no offense, i was just wondering)

Yeah, also called sentience. But we don't really know what it is. The anima, the soul. It has to do with the origin of life, and in my opinion it's something metaphysical, or energetic if you will.

 

[Lost Magic]

I'm seriously thinking about buying this Eilik bot when it becomes available. He looks like a fun and cheery little guy to wake up to and not that expensive for what you are getting. Thoughts on this?

Eilik: A little Companion Bot with Personality & Character

Eilik is a new kind of robot with emotional intelligence that brings up a higher level of social interactions between humans and robots. It’s the one that eases our life and be our companion whenever we need. It's our very robotic friend.

energizelab.com