Vue d'ensemble

  • Missions postés 0

Description de l'entreprise

AI Simulation Gives People a Glimpse of Their Potential Future Self

In a preliminary user research study, the researchers discovered that after communicating with Future You for about half an hour, individuals reported decreased anxiety and felt a more powerful sense of connection with their future selves.

« We don’t have a genuine time device yet, however AI can be a type of virtual time machine. We can use this simulation to assist people believe more about the consequences of the choices they are making today, » states Pat Pataranutaporn, a recent Media Lab doctoral graduate who is actively developing a program to advance human-AI interaction research at MIT, and co-lead author of a paper on Future You.

Pataranutaporn is signed up with on the paper by co-lead authors Kavin Winson, a researcher at KASIKORN Labs; and Peggy Yin, a Harvard University undergrad; along with Auttasak Lapapirojn and Pichayoot Ouppaphan of KASIKORN Labs; and senior authors Monchai Lertsutthiwong, head of AI research study at the KASIKORN Business-Technology Group; Pattie Maes, the Germeshausen Professor of Media, Arts, and Sciences and head of the Fluid Interfaces group at MIT, and Hal Hershfield, teacher of marketing, behavioral choice making, and psychology at the University of California at Los Angeles. The research will be provided at the IEEE Conference on Frontiers in Education.

A realistic simulation

Studies about conceptualizing one’s future self go back to at least the 1960s. One early approach intended at improving future self-continuity had people write letters to their future selves. More recently, scientists utilized virtual truth safety glasses to help individuals picture future variations of themselves.

But none of these techniques were very interactive, restricting the effect they might have on a user.

With the introduction of generative AI and large language designs like ChatGPT, the researchers saw an opportunity to make a simulated future self that could talk about someone’s actual goals and aspirations during a regular conversation.

« The system makes the simulation really sensible. Future You is much more detailed than what an individual might develop by simply envisioning their future selves, » states Maes.

Users begin by answering a series of concerns about their present lives, things that are crucial to them, and goals for the future.

The AI system utilizes this details to develop what the researchers call « future self memories » which offer a backstory the model pulls from when communicating with the user.

For example, the chatbot could discuss the highlights of someone’s future career or answer concerns about how the user overcame a particular obstacle. This is possible due to the fact that ChatGPT has been trained on extensive information involving individuals talking about their lives, careers, and excellent and disappointments.

The user with the tool in two methods: through self-questioning, when they consider their life and goals as they build their future selves, and revision, when they consider whether the simulation shows who they see themselves ending up being, states Yin.

« You can imagine Future You as a story search area. You have an opportunity to hear how a few of your experiences, which may still be emotionally charged for you now, could be metabolized throughout time, » she says.

To help individuals picture their future selves, the system generates an age-progressed photo of the user. The chatbot is likewise developed to supply brilliant responses using expressions like « when I was your age, » so the simulation feels more like a real future version of the individual.

The capability to listen from an older variation of oneself, rather than a generic AI, can have a more powerful favorable effect on a user considering an unsure future, Hershfield says.

« The interactive, vivid components of the platform provide the user an anchor point and take something that might result in anxious rumination and make it more concrete and efficient, » he adds.

But that realism could backfire if the simulation relocates a negative instructions. To avoid this, they make sure Future You cautions users that it reveals just one potential version of their future self, and they have the agency to change their lives. Providing alternate answers to the survey yields a completely different discussion.

« This is not a prophesy, however rather a possibility, » Pataranutaporn states.

Aiding self-development

To evaluate Future You, they performed a user research study with 344 individuals. Some users connected with the system for 10-30 minutes, while others either communicated with a generic chatbot or just completed studies.

Participants who used Future You had the ability to construct a more detailed relationship with their perfect future selves, based upon an analytical analysis of their reactions. These users also reported less anxiety about the future after their interactions. In addition, Future You users stated the discussion felt sincere which their worths and beliefs appeared consistent in their simulated future identities.

« This work creates a new path by taking a well-established mental technique to picture times to come – an avatar of the future self – with cutting edge AI. This is exactly the kind of work academics need to be concentrating on as innovation to build virtual self designs combines with big language models, » states Jeremy Bailenson, the Thomas More Storke Professor of Communication at Stanford University, who was not included with this research.

Building off the results of this preliminary user research study, the scientists continue to fine-tune the methods they establish context and prime users so they have discussions that assist construct a stronger sense of future self-continuity.

« We desire to direct the user to talk about specific subjects, rather than asking their future selves who the next president will be, » Pataranutaporn says.

They are also adding safeguards to prevent individuals from misusing the system. For circumstances, one could picture a business developing a « future you » of a potential client who achieves some great result in life due to the fact that they purchased a specific item.

Moving on, the researchers want to study particular applications of Future You, possibly by allowing individuals to check out various professions or visualize how their everyday options could impact climate change.

They are likewise collecting data from the Future You pilot to much better comprehend how people use the system.

« We don’t want people to end up being based on this tool. Rather, we hope it is a significant experience that assists them see themselves and the world differently, and assists with self-development, » Maes states.