Concepts de base
Citizens' anticipations of both desirable and undesirable impacts of AI-based personal chatbots on individuals and society, and how these relate to their underlying values.
Résumé
The study leverages scenario-writing at scale to map the anticipated impacts of AI-based personal chatbots from the perspective of individual users. The analysis reveals a balanced mix of desirable and undesirable impacts across individual and societal levels.
On the individual level, desirable impacts include improvements to well-being, skills, and work performance, enabled by the efficiency and convenience of chatbots. Undesirable individual impacts center around the loss of human skills, well-being issues like frustration and over-reliance, and the deterioration of human-human relationships.
At the societal level, the few desirable impacts mentioned include fostering collective action and promoting multiculturalism. Undesirable societal impacts are more prevalent, such as large-scale job displacement, declining social cohesion, ethical concerns around misinformation, and existential questions about the role of technology in human life.
The study also finds some associations between participants' sociodemographic characteristics and the types of impacts they anticipate, highlighting the need to engage diverse stakeholders in impact assessment. Overall, the findings underscore the value of a user-centric, scenario-based approach to anticipating the multifaceted impacts of general-purpose AI technologies like personal chatbots.
Stats
"AI can give you the confidence it requires to put yourself out there."
"The AI in my story helped my main character find balance in her life."
"Chatbots and AI can cut through the nonsense and provide efficient answers including step-by-step guidance in some instances."
"AI-based chatbots can help individuals achieve their dreams and aspirations with a vast amount of ideas."
"The story emphasizes the positive role AI can play in fostering collective well-being and addressing societal challenges."
"Even if AI is knowledgeable, they can misunderstand us and send us in the wrong direction."
"I also think people should be careful of the information they send to artificial intelligence bots as that information ultimately belongs to someone else."
"Considering how widespread "fake news" has been during the past few US elections I can only see that problem getting worse now that AI chatbots and AI image tools are more easily accessible to almost anyone."
"Worst thing is, I actually think AI could be a great tool, with amazing benefits to society. However, it's hard to have trust that the technology won't be abused by the people in power."
"I greatly value human connection and see it as a fundamentally important aspect of living, but what happens when the words of a human and the words of an AI are indistinguishable?"
"The quality of production we have today is because people have spent their lives learning a craft and expanding on it with their own ideas. An AI can't do that, it can't create meaning out of what it makes"
"Capitalism and AI don't mix well. In the name of profits, it doesn't matter what happens to the little person."
"I believe that people are making tech just to make it because it will sell or because it will help them sell something, not because it will help society in any way."
Citations
"AI can give you the confidence it requires to put yourself out there."
"The AI in my story helped my main character find balance in her life."
"Chatbots and AI can cut through the nonsense and provide efficient answers including step-by-step guidance in some instances."
"AI-based chatbots can help individuals achieve their dreams and aspirations with a vast amount of ideas."
"The story emphasizes the positive role AI can play in fostering collective well-being and addressing societal challenges."
"Even if AI is knowledgeable, they can misunderstand us and send us in the wrong direction."
"I also think people should be careful of the information they send to artificial intelligence bots as that information ultimately belongs to someone else."
"Considering how widespread "fake news" has been during the past few US elections I can only see that problem getting worse now that AI chatbots and AI image tools are more easily accessible to almost anyone."
"Worst thing is, I actually think AI could be a great tool, with amazing benefits to society. However, it's hard to have trust that the technology won't be abused by the people in power."
"I greatly value human connection and see it as a fundamentally important aspect of living, but what happens when the words of a human and the words of an AI are indistinguishable?"
"The quality of production we have today is because people have spent their lives learning a craft and expanding on it with their own ideas. An AI can't do that, it can't create meaning out of what it makes"
"Capitalism and AI don't mix well. In the name of profits, it doesn't matter what happens to the little person."
"I believe that people are making tech just to make it because it will sell or because it will help them sell something, not because it will help society in any way."