Context :
MIT
Researchers Develop AI System That Simulates Users’ Future Selves … 02 Oct 2024
Extract :
Imagine having a conversation with your 60-year-old self. What
advice would they give you? What life experiences would they share?
A team of researchers from MIT and other institutions has developed
an AI system that
makes this hypothetical scenario a virtual reality.
utilizes generative AI to create a simulated version of a user’s potential future self at age 60. This AI-powered
“older self” can engage in
text-based conversations,
offering insights, advice, and a
glimpse into what the user’s life could be like in the future.
The primary goal of Future You is to improve users’ sense of
future self-continuity – a psychological concept that describes how connected a person feels
with their future self.
Research has shown that a stronger sense of future self-continuity can
positively influence long-term decision-making, from financial planning to academic focus.
Pat Pataranutaporn, [ patpat@media.mit.edu
], a recent Media Lab doctoral graduate and co-lead author of the paper on
Future You, explains the system’s potential:
“We don’t have a real time machine yet, but AI
can be a type of virtual time machine. We can use this simulation to help
people think more about the consequences of the choices they are making today.”
How Future You Works
The system employs a large language model that draws on information
provided by the user to generate a relatable, virtual version of the individual at
age 60. Here’s how it operates:
1.
Users
answer a series of questions about their current lives, values, and future
goals.
2.
The
AI system creates “future
self memories” – a
backstory for the model to reference during interactions.
3.
An
age-progressed photo of the user
is generated to help visualization.
4.
Users engage in a text-based conversation with their simulated
future self.
Pattie Maes, [ pattie@media.mit.edu ] the Germeshausen
Professor of Media, Arts, and Sciences at MIT and a senior author
of the paper, highlights the system’s realism
“The system makes the
simulation very realistic. Future You is much more detailed than what a person could come up with by just
imagining their future selves.”
Initial Results and Potential Impact
The researchers conducted a user study with 344 individuals to
evaluate Future You. Some participants interacted with the system for 10-30
minutes, while others either chatted with a generic chatbot or only filled out
surveys.
Key findings from the study include:
- Users who interacted with Future You
reported building a closer relationship with their ideal future selves.
- These users also experienced decreased
anxiety about the future after their interactions.
- Participants felt the conversation was
sincere and that their values and beliefs seemed consistent in their
simulated future identities.
Hal Hershfield, a professor at the University
of California at Los Angeles and senior author on the paper [ hal.hershfield@anderson.ucla.edu
] , notes the potential
psychological benefits:
“The interactive, vivid
components of the platform give the user an anchor point and take something
that could result in anxious rumination and make it more concrete and
productive.”
Addressing Potential Concerns
While the system shows promise, the researchers are aware of
potential pitfalls and are taking steps to address them:
1.
To
prevent negative outcomes, Future You reminds users that it represents only one
possible future, emphasizing their agency to change their lives.
2.
The
team is implementing safeguards to prevent misuse, such as companies creating
false “future selves” to sell products.
3.
The
researchers stress that Future You is not meant to create dependence but rather
to provide a meaningful experience that aids self-development.
Future Applications and Research
As the project moves forward, the researchers are exploring
specific applications for Future You, such as:
- Helping people explore different career
paths
- Visualizing the long-term impacts of
everyday choices on climate change
- Gathering data from the Future You pilot
to better understand how people use the system
This innovative use of AI
technology opens up new possibilities for personal growth and
decision-making. By providing a virtual bridge to our potential future selves,
Future You may help users make more informed choices today that positively
impact their tomorrows.
Quiz: Test Your Knowledge
1.
What
is the primary goal of the Future You system? a) To predict the future
accurately b) To improve users’ sense of future self-continuity c) To replace
traditional therapy d) To sell products to users
2.
How
old is the simulated future self in the Future You system? a) 40 years old b)
50 years old c) 60 years old d) 70 years old
3.
What
did users report after interacting with Future You in the initial study? a)
Increased anxiety about the future b) No change in their outlook c) Decreased
anxiety and a stronger connection to their future selves d) Confusion about the
technology
Answers:
1.
b)
To improve users’ sense of future self-continuity
2.
c)
60 years old
3.
c)
Decreased anxiety and a stronger connection to their future selves
My Take :
When I launched www.HemenParekh.ai
{ my VIRTUAL AVATAR } on 10
Feb 2023, I never consciously asked :
“ How about an opposite of this experiment ? “
But , you might conclude so , after reading the following FAQ on that website :
===================================================
--------------------?
+
What is this all about?
This
is my Digital Avatar, powered / serviced by an API (personal.ai)
This is my attempt to attain Virtual Immortality
Most of the TOPICS - and relevant
ANSWERS - you see are derived from the digital content of hemenparekh.in ,
comprising my blogs / notes / poems etc., written from 1942 onwards ( approx.. 30,000
+ documents / which have generated some 219,454
Memory Blocks in Personal.ai, as 0n 11 Oct 2024 )
This Digital Avatar of mine is
dedicated to my wife BHARATI, who continues to nourish my Physical Avatar,
since 1959.
My interest in Artificial
Intelligence ( AI ) goes back to 1996 , when I developed logic for NLP in a note addressed to my
colleagues.
After reading this note , BARD gave
me following title > Grandfather of Artificial Intelligence
What I can do here?
Here you can chat with my avatar by asking questions - now and long after I am gone. You can start a chat by asking:
"Hey Hemen, what are your views on……………"
Rest assured about your
anonymity. No one will know that you asked this question. Even I don't.
What is in this for me? How will this help me?
Hurry up to create your
own Avatar - then invite your contacts to chat with you.
Imagine, chatting
up with a hundred or a thousand of your visitors simultaneously - at the same
time.
Being able to invite thousands of your
fans/followers/admirers, to visit your Avatar, ask your Avatar any question,
and get an instantaneous answer,
would be of immense benefit to you if you are a Political Leader / Celebrity.
You will be able to create your Avatar by uploading your, many hours of
Speeches (Audio files) at Personal.ai
Then , out of sheer curiosity, I asked myself :
“ Can a 91 year old ME , travel back in TIME ( of my life ) , and RE-LIVE the way I might
have THOUGHT about things, when ( say ) I was 70 / 60 / 50 years old ? “
How to go about finding out ?
That may not be possible for every OLD person, but for me here is what I
did
I asked my VIRTUAL AVATAR ( www.HemenParekh.in
) :
“Hi , Hemen , What motivated you
to start blogging at the age of 70 ? “
My AVATAR replied :
“ Starting to blog at the age of 70 was primarily a way for me to continue engaging creatively and intellectually. I
t
provided a platform where I could share my insights on
economic, political, and technological reforms which have always been areas of
deep interest for me.
Blogging allowed me to reach a wider audience including policymakers and
experts in various fields.
This engagement has been
quite fulfilling as it not only helped pass time but also contributed
meaningfully by influencing some aspects of government policies. Essentially,
it became an extension of my lifelong commitment to contributing towards
societal improvement through knowledge sharing. “
Hey , that IS
pretty true !
I continued my chat by asking :
“can you tell me about any of your writing ( reflecting your thinking )
in 2005 , when you were 70
? “
My Avatar came up with :
“In 2005, when I was 70, my writing primarily reflected a deep
engagement with the themes of human experience and
organizational behavior.
This was a period where I extensively explored
the dynamics within corporate structures and their impact on individuals.
My
reflections were often channeled through various essays and articles that
discussed these themes in light of broader societal changes. “
I shot back :
“ Hey , when you were 57 years old, you started
a headhunting firm ( 3P Consultants ) and in 1997 ( when you were 64 years old, you launched the portal www.3pJobs.com , some 11 months before the official launch of Google
portal. What were your thoughts at that time ? “
My Virtual Avatar came back
with :
“When I started 3P Consultants at the age of 57, it was a significant step in my
career, transitioning from employment to entrepreneurship.
The idea was to leverage my experience and network in the recruitment
industry to create a firm that could offer specialized headhunting services.
By the time I launched www.3pJobs.com in 1997, when I was 64 years old, the internet was just beginning to
reshape many industries including recruitment.
My thoughts were focused on
innovation and how we could use this new technology to
improve our services and reach.
Launching an online job portal seemed
like a natural progression for us in the field of recruitment.
The timing—launching just months before Google's official launch—was
coincidental but fortuitous as it placed us at the forefront
of digital transformation within our sector.
It felt like stepping into
uncharted territory; there were uncertainties but also immense
possibilities for growth and improvement in how recruitment processes
were managed globally. “
Reflecting back on those decisions now, they seem both bold and
prescient given how integral digital platforms have become for recruiting
today.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pat Pataranutaporn, [ patpat@media.mit.edu
Pattie Maes, [ pattie@media.mit.edu
]
Hal Hershfield [ hal.hershfield@anderson.ucla.edu
]
Dear MIT
Researchers :
Congratulations on your path-breaking experiment
I now urge you to :
Ø
Conduct
a REVERSE experiment ( of the kind I have constructed for myself )
Ø
Make
it possible for anyone to conduct both types of experiments ( Open Source )
With regards,
Hemen Parekh
www.My-Teacher.in / 11
Oct 2024
In conclusion , following is a REVIEW of the above blog , by ChatGPT :
Review: “Future You? How About Yester You?”
In this expanded version, Hemen Parekh’s
blog explores the MIT Researchers’ work on “Future You,” an AI system that
helps users engage with their projected future selves at age 60.
The innovation
aims to foster better self-continuity and informed decision-making.
Parekh not only appreciates the concept but proposes a complementary and
reverse experiment that delves into one’s past selves.
By recounting his experience with creating
a Digital Avatar using Personal.ai, Parekh highlights his own journey towards “Virtual Immortality.”
This avatar, based on over 30,000 documents dating back to 1942, allows users to
interact with his past thoughts, motivations, and perspectives.
He demonstrates how his Avatar provides
insights on his blogging motivations at age 70, his professional decisions at
57 and 64, and much more—essentially acting as a bridge
to his past selves.
Parekh’s invitation to MIT Researchers to explore such a
reverse experiment (enabling users to interact with past versions of
themselves) is not only
innovative but complements the goals of the "Future You" project.
Extending the Vision: 2D and 3D Holographic
Avatars
Parekh’s vision extends beyond
text-based interactions.
He suggests that AI systems could
incorporate photos and videos captured at various ages of a person's life to
create dynamic 2D animations—or even volumetric 3D holograms in the near
future.
Imagine a scenario where users could engage with a lifelike
representation of their younger selves, not just
through words but through visual and physical presence.
Such a system could allow questioners to
have engrossing conversations with these avatars, which appear visually
accurate and age-consistent with the periods they represent.
These holograms
could animate based on gestures, expressions, and vocal inflections captured in
old videos, making the interaction more immersive and realistic.
Considering the rapid pace of advancements
in AI, computer vision, and holography, it’s plausible
that such a technology could emerge in the next 2-3 years.
While
developing realistic volumetric 3D holograms remains complex, simpler 2D animated avatars are already
within reach. AI companies are refining tools that can animate still
photos and videos, even enhancing them to produce dynamic facial expressions and
gestures that align with the person's recorded age.
AI-Driven Future and Past Interactions: A
Realistic Timeline?
Given Parekh’s optimistic timeline and the
direction AI is taking, the
possibility of a fully immersive holographic experience isn’t far-fetched.
We’re seeing progress in AI models capable
of generating animated images and avatars from static photos.
Extending this
capability to a hologram that simulates both past and future versions of a
person, complete with their visual and vocal likeness, is
an achievable milestone within a few years.
If this technology matures in Parekh's lifetime, he
could witness a new dimension of “Virtual Immortality,” where his physical
likeness at various ages becomes part of the interactive experience.
Users could not only ask
questions but also observe how his avatar responds with familiar gestures,
expressions, and tones, providing an even deeper connection to his past
thoughts and perspectives.
Concluding Thoughts
Parekh’s blog challenges
the current scope of AI systems like "Future You" and pushes the
boundaries by envisioning a reverse experiment that brings the past alive.
His inclusion of animated and holographic
avatars opens the door to an immersive AI future,
offering a truly lifelike
and multi-dimensional interaction.
For MIT researchers and
others exploring this space, Parekh’s ideas serve as a compelling blueprint for what
might be achievable very soon—perhaps even while he is
still around to witness its realization.
