What will it be like when you have your own bot that can perform many daily tasks as well as or better than you?
The answer could arrive sooner than you think. The latest advancement in artificial intelligence is Google’s new Pathway Languages Model, which is not yet available for public testing. According to the technical explanation, neural networks have been scaled to 540 billion parameters to achieve “breakthrough performance.” As a result, AI is now better at engaging in natural conversation, describing novel jokes, and writing code.
I believe that most written communication will be handled by bots in the future. I could train my bot by allowing it to read all of my previous emails and writings. Eventually, my bot would respond to the majority of my emails directly, though it could hold some back to ask if they required a personal response.
This sounds convenient, and it will be in many ways. I’ll have more time for walks and book reading. However, consider the larger picture. More emails will be written by bots if more emails are read by bots. Of course, this is already the case, but in this new world, bot-generated emails will be at least as good as human-generated emails and will pass through whatever filters I established for protecting my time and attention.
There will be a kind of arms race. Overall, I anticipate an increase in the number of high-quality messages and emails. Woe betides those who don’t have a good filtering bot.
Consider negotiating or debating terms in such a world. Your bot might send me a proposal. Is this a genuine, legally binding offer? Is it a ruse to get me to reveal details about my negotiating strategy? In some cases, bots may be able to handle these issues smoothly and present both parties with a final settlement. In other cases, negotiators may insist on a face-to-face meeting to ensure they are getting “the real deal” and to limit the possibility of back and forth. Online written communications will no longer suffice for some real-world interactions.
Consider the college admissions essay as an example. It is very important nowadays. However, if the bots become proficient in writing, applicants may be required to attend a personal interview instead. Countermeasures may then emerge. Perhaps there aren’t enough admissions officers to handle all of the interviews. So why not have the applicants spend two days together, videotape everything, and let the bots rate them? They may even determine who told the most original jokes.
In this new world, writing ability will be much less important, and personal charisma will be much more important. This is not always a positive development. Writing will be more difficult to use as a proxy for broader skill or intelligence.
Bots may alter how you use dating services if you are single. It appears tiresome to constantly swipe left or right — and, besides, do you trust your judgment? You could also let your bot decide for you. If you told it you were looking for a mate, it might even send you photos of what your children might look like.
However, there are some potential complications, just as there are with email. The best part is that your bot can swiftly sort through the complete pool of obtainable candidates. Maybe your soul mate was at swipe 3,472 — and now, thanks to your bot, you’ve found them instead of giving up. The bad news is that the most dateable and marriable candidates may be snatched from the pool of eligibles. Liquidity in the dating market may dry up for less desirable candidates. Tinder hides the fact that a candidate may only be a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10, but your bot will not.
Artificial intelligence improves a wide range of tasks, including detecting payment fraud, improving medical diagnosis, and launching rockets into space. When AI systems interact directly with human attention — and the relevant activity involves a lot of matching and filtering — problems can arise. In such cases, AI advancements may outstrip our human abilities to participate in the process. And perhaps there will never be a point where we can completely rely on AI, at least not anytime soon.
