Human Interactions in the Era of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
In the era of artificial intelligence (AI), everyone is worried that Human Interactions, especially on the job market, are going to be less and less valued. In many ways, this will be the case on the financial side of the equation as thousands of jobs are being lost every month to AI and optimizing the workflows of many enterprises. While all this is happening however, I do believe there is still a bright spot and a silver lining for human interaction in this world. When everything we see and hear cannot be trusted in terms of its source of creation, the truly human interactions left in the world once the world is inundated with AI will be seen as the most authentic and valued content out there. Human interactions, that which is real, still has a place in our world.
Social media is probably the place where we see this happening most. There are so many pieces of content that are clearly AI generated that are flooding all forms of social media, from text posts to video posts, that it is sometimes hard to distinguish what is real from what is fake. Because AI is designed to constantly adapt itself to give us instant gratification, our dopamine receptors are constantly being satisfied, resulting in a greater tolerance against these same receptors receiving the same amount of gratification in the future. We can search whatever topics we desire and likely use prompts to find exactly what we are looking for, but at the end of the day, one thing remains elusive. All the searches we make and all the AI we create with the tools out there cannot give us instant gratification as it relates to human interaction with another person.
We as humans have free will. We don't just listen to a prompt and instantly do as it says (at least not in the free world). We have freedom to choose how to spend our time, who to speak with, who to hug and who to love. No matter how good artificial intelligence gets at mimicking these very human choices, it will never quite get to a point that a human whom we wish to care for or love can be replaced, for doing so, will ultimately lead to the extinction of our civilization without our populations being replenished through childbirth. We as individuals have so much power to deliver authentic experiences to those whom we choose, and this is why human interaction will always be at a premium.
At this point, you may have caught on to what I am talking about. I have been quantifying human interaction as a premium service, and after watching a video by Ashton Kutcher, I strongly agree with what he is saying about this topic. He mentions that as people cannot tell between what is authentic and inauthentic, that people will gravitate towards craving authentic interactions. I have personally seen a bit of this firsthand lately as I have started to become more social through discord after years of not doing so.
The reason I believe the guild is growing so fast in the game I am playing with my twitch community is because the authentic interactions we are having in discord for all viewers to hear and spectate is creating that craving to participate in an authentic guild. While my purpose for creating the guild is certainly to make friends in an authentic way, there is certainly something different with the velocity in which it is happening. I feel us gamers are especially susceptible to the need for authentic interactions, especially since our dopamine receptors are constantly being triggered through gaming. Perhaps that is why the phenomenon of live streaming is as popular as it is, because there is a longing and a need for authentic conversations with people from around the globe.
I personally will continue to monitor this topic as I believe it will continue to evolve, and who knows what kind of value human interactions will have in the future when the world is inundated with AI and our ability to distinguish what is real and what is fake becomes less and less apparent. In a way, this is quite a sad future, but at least we know that authentic and real human interactions will never fully be replaced with AI. Our civilization depends on it, and I have faith that we will survive.
Until next time,
Blackboa