Alexandermohan

Overview

  • Founded Date September 13, 1931
  • Sectors Automotive
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Company Description

AI Simulation Gives People a Glance of Their Potential Future Self

In an initial user research study, the researchers found that after with Future You for about half an hour, individuals reported reduced anxiety and felt a stronger sense of connection with their future selves.

“We don’t have a real time device yet, however AI can be a type of virtual time machine. We can use this simulation to help individuals believe more about the consequences of the choices they are making today,” states Pat Pataranutaporn, a current Media Lab doctoral graduate who is actively establishing a program to advance human-AI interaction research study 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; in addition to Auttasak Lapapirojn and Pichayoot Ouppaphan of KASIKORN Labs; and senior authors Monchai Lertsutthiwong, head of AI research 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 presented at the IEEE Conference on Frontiers in Education.

A sensible simulation

Studies about conceptualizing one’s future self return to at least the 1960s. One early approach focused on enhancing future self-continuity had people write letters to their future selves. More recently, scientists used virtual truth goggles to help people imagine future versions of themselves.

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

With the introduction of generative AI and big language models like ChatGPT, the researchers saw an opportunity to make a simulated future self that might discuss someone’s real objectives and goals during a normal discussion.

“The system makes the simulation really practical. Future You is far more detailed than what a person might develop by just picturing their future selves,” states Maes.

Users begin by addressing a series of questions about their existing lives, things that are crucial to them, and objectives for the future.

The AI system utilizes this details to develop what the researchers call “future self memories” which provide a backstory the model pulls from when connecting with the user.

For example, the chatbot might talk about the highlights of someone’s future career or response concerns about how the user conquered a specific challenge. This is possible since ChatGPT has been trained on extensive information including individuals discussing their lives, professions, and excellent and disappointments.

The user engages with the tool in 2 ways: through self-questioning, when they consider their life and goals as they construct their future selves, and revision, when they consider whether the simulation reflects who they see themselves ending up being, states Yin.

“You can imagine Future You as a story search area. You have a chance to hear how some of your experiences, which may still be mentally charged for you now, might be metabolized throughout time,” she says.

To assist people envision their future selves, the system creates an age-progressed photo of the user. The chatbot is also designed to offer brilliant responses using phrases like “when I was your age,” so the simulation feels more like an actual future variation of the individual.

The ability to listen from an older version of oneself, instead of a generic AI, can have a stronger favorable influence on a user considering an uncertain future, Hershfield states.

“The interactive, brilliant components of the platform give the user an anchor point and take something that could lead to distressed rumination and make it more concrete and efficient,” he adds.

But that realism could backfire if the simulation relocates an unfavorable direction. To avoid this, they make sure Future You cautions users that it reveals just one potential variation of their future self, and they have the agency to alter their lives. Providing alternate answers to the questionnaire yields a completely different discussion.

“This is not a prophesy, however rather a possibility,” Pataranutaporn says.

Aiding self-development

To assess Future You, they performed a user study with 344 people. Some users interacted with the system for 10-30 minutes, while others either communicated with a generic chatbot or only completed surveys.

Participants who used Future You were able to construct a closer relationship with their ideal future selves, based on an analytical analysis of their actions. These users also reported less stress and anxiety about the future after their interactions. In addition, Future You users said the discussion felt genuine and that their worths and beliefs appeared constant in their simulated future identities.

“This work creates a new path by taking a reputable psychological technique to envision times to come – an avatar of the future self – with cutting edge AI. This is exactly the type of work academics should be focusing on as innovation to build virtual self designs combines with big language designs,” says Jeremy Bailenson, the Thomas More Storke Professor of Communication at Stanford University, who was not involved with this research.

Building off the outcomes of this preliminary user research study, the scientists continue to fine-tune the ways they establish context and prime users so they have discussions that help build a more powerful sense of future self-continuity.

“We wish to assist the user to talk about particular topics, rather than asking their future selves who the next president will be,” Pataranutaporn states.

They are also adding safeguards to avoid people from misusing the system. For example, one might think of a business creating a “future you” of a potential customer who accomplishes some excellent outcome in life because they bought a particular item.

Progressing, the scientists want to study particular applications of Future You, maybe by making it possible for individuals to explore various professions or imagine how their everyday choices could impact climate modification.

They are likewise collecting data from the Future You pilot to much better understand how individuals utilize the system.

“We don’t want individuals to end up being reliant on this tool. Rather, we hope it is a meaningful experience that assists them see themselves and the world differently, and assists with self-development,” Maes states.