AI Simulation Gives People a Peek of Their Potential Future Self

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

“We do not have an actual time device yet, however AI can be a type of virtual time machine. We can use this simulation to assist individuals think more about the repercussions of the choices they are making today,” says Pat Pataranutaporn, a recent Media Lab doctoral graduate who is actively establishing a program to advance human-AI interaction research 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 scientist at KASIKORN Labs; and Peggy Yin, a Harvard University undergraduate; along with Auttasak Lapapirojn and Pichayoot Ouppaphan of KASIKORN Labs; and senior authors Monchai Lertsutthiwong, head of AI research study 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, professor of marketing, behavioral decision making, and psychology at the University of California at Los Angeles. The research will exist at the IEEE Conference on Frontiers in Education.

A realistic simulation

Studies about conceiving one’s future self go back to at least the 1960s. One early method focused on improving future self-continuity had individuals write letters to their future selves. More just recently, researchers used virtual reality safety glasses to help people envision future variations of themselves.

But none of these approaches were extremely interactive, limiting the impact they could have on a user.

With the arrival of generative AI and big language models like ChatGPT, the researchers saw a chance to make a simulated future self that might talk about somebody’s actual goals and aspirations throughout a normal conversation.

“The system makes the simulation extremely realistic. Future You is a lot more comprehensive than what a person might develop by simply picturing their future selves,” states Maes.

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

The AI system uses this details to create what the scientists call “future self memories” which provide a backstory the design pulls from when connecting with the user.

For example, the chatbot might speak about the highlights of somebody’s future profession or answer concerns about how the user conquered a particular difficulty. This is possible due to the fact that ChatGPT has actually been trained on extensive data including individuals discussing their lives, careers, and great and disappointments.

The user engages with the tool in 2 methods: through introspection, when they consider their life and objectives as they build their future selves, and revision, when they contemplate whether the simulation reflects who they see themselves ending up being, says Yin.

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

To assist individuals imagine their future selves, the system produces an age-progressed picture of the user. The chatbot is also created to offer vibrant answers using phrases like “when I was your age,” so the simulation feels more like an actual future version of the person.

The ability to take guidance from an older version of oneself, instead of a generic AI, can have a more powerful positive impact on a user considering an unpredictable future, Hershfield states.

“The interactive, vibrant components of the platform provide the user an anchor point and take something that could result in nervous rumination and make it more concrete and efficient,” he includes.

But that realism could backfire if the simulation moves in an unfavorable instructions. To prevent this, they make sure Future You warns users that it reveals just one potential version of their future self, and they have the company to alter their lives. Providing alternate answers to the survey yields a totally different conversation.

“This is not a prophesy, but rather a possibility,” Pataranutaporn states.

Aiding self-development

To examine Future You, they conducted a user study with 344 individuals. Some users connected with the system for 10-30 minutes, while others either interacted with a generic chatbot or only completed studies.

Participants who used Future You had the ability to develop a more detailed relationship with their ideal future selves, based upon an analytical analysis of their . These users also reported less anxiety about the future after their interactions. In addition, Future You users stated the conversation felt sincere which their worths and beliefs seemed consistent in their simulated future identities.

“This work forges a new course by taking a reputable psychological method to imagine times to come – an avatar of the future self – with cutting edge AI. This is precisely the kind of work academics ought to be concentrating on as innovation to build virtual self models combines with big language designs,” says Jeremy Bailenson, the Thomas More Storke Professor of Communication at Stanford University, who was not included with this research.

Building off the outcomes of this preliminary user research study, the scientists continue to tweak the ways they develop context and prime users so they have discussions that assist construct a stronger sense of future self-continuity.

“We want to assist the user to discuss specific topics, instead of asking their future selves who the next president will be,” Pataranutaporn says.

They are likewise adding safeguards to avoid people from misusing the system. For example, one could envision a business producing a “future you” of a potential client who accomplishes some fantastic outcome in life since they purchased a particular item.

Moving forward, the researchers wish to study specific applications of Future You, perhaps by making it possible for people to check out various professions or envision how their daily options might impact environment modification.

They are also collecting data from the Future You pilot to better comprehend how individuals use the system.

“We don’t desire individuals to become based on this tool. Rather, we hope it is a meaningful experience that helps them see themselves and the world in a different way, and assists with self-development,” Maes says.