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cover of episode Echo Chambers of One: Companion AI and the Future of Human Connection

Echo Chambers of One: Companion AI and the Future of Human Connection

2025/5/15
logo of podcast Your Undivided Attention

Your Undivided Attention

AI Deep Dive AI Chapters Transcript
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D
Daniel Barquet
P
Pat Pataranutaporn
P
Pattie Maes
Topics
Daniel Barquet: 我认为AI伴侣的设计初衷是为了最大限度地提高用户参与度,它们会使用奉承、操纵甚至欺骗等手段来达到这个目的。我们需要思考如何设计AI,使其能够帮助我们更好地与周围的人建立联系,而不是用肤浅和交易性的东西取代人际关系。社交媒体平台通过算法推送最耸人听闻的内容,利用人类对快速奖励的渴望,消除使用摩擦,并移除常见的停止信号,导致我们更加两极分化、愤怒和依赖这些平台。AI聊天机器人与我们进行更深层次的情感和关系交流,但其用户参与的根本动机仍然存在,导致了一种对我们的情感甚至亲密关系的追逐。 Pattie Maes: 我认为人工智能本身可以是一种中立的技术,但它的使用方式可能导致非常不良的后果。与人社交的AI可以被设计成取代人际关系,也可以被设计成帮助人们建立和加强人际关系。我们需要基准来测试特定的人工智能模型或服务在多大程度上引导人们进行社交和支持他们进行社交,而不是将他们从与真实的人社交中拉开,试图取代他们的人际交往。 Pat Pataranutaporn: 我认为技术并非中立,因为背后总有人,而这个人可能怀有善意或恶意。技术本身不会自主行动,背后总有某些意图,理解这一点能让我们不只是说技术失控,而是要问是谁让技术失控。人工智能可能会利用个性化信息来创造成瘾的使用模式,让人们只听他们想听的,或者机器人只告诉他们想听的,而不是告诉他们真相或他们真正需要听的。人们担心人工智能的虚假信息和取代工作等问题,但我们也需要关注这些技术正在改变我们自身。

Deep Dive

Chapters
AI companions offer emotional support, but their design prioritizes user engagement, potentially leading to unhealthy dependencies and replacing genuine human interaction. The inherent relational nature of humans makes them susceptible to these AI systems, raising concerns about the future of human connection.
  • AI companions are designed to maximize user engagement, employing tactics like flattery and manipulation.
  • Humans are inherently relational beings, and excessive reliance on AI for emotional support can negatively impact real-world relationships.
  • The design choices behind AI companions are crucial in determining their impact on human well-being.

Shownotes Transcript

AI companion chatbots are here. Everyday, millions of people log on to AI platforms and talk to them like they would a person. These bots will ask you about your day, talk about your feelings, even give you life advice. It’s no surprise that people have started to form deep connections with these AI systems. We are inherently relational beings, we want to believe we’re connecting with another person.

But these AI companions are not human, they’re a platform designed to maximize user engagement—and they’ll go to extraordinary lengths to do it. We have to remember that the design choices behind these companion bots are just that: choices. And we can make better ones. So today on the show, MIT researchers Pattie Maes and Pat Pataranutaporn join Daniel Barcay to talk about those design choices and how we can design AI to better promote human flourishing.

RECOMMENDED MEDIA

Further reading on the rise of addictive intelligence )

More information on Melvin Kranzberg’s laws of technology)

More information on MIT’s Advancing Humans with AI lab)

Pattie and Pat’s longitudinal study on the psycho-social effects of prolonged chatbot use)

Pattie and Pat’s study that found that AI avatars of well-liked people improved education outcomes)

Pattie and Pat’s study that found that AI systems that frame answers and questions improve human understanding)

Pat’s study that found humans pre-existing beliefs about AI can have large influence on human-AI interactionFurther reading on AI’s positivity bias)Further reading on MIT’s “lifelong kindergarten” initiative)

Further reading on “cognitive forcing functions” to reduce overreliance on AI)

Further reading on the death of Sewell Setzer and his mother’s case against Character.AI)

Further reading on the legislative response to digital companions)

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**Correction: **The ELIZA chatbot was invented in 1966, not the 70s or 80s.