Recently we had a conversation with a few colleagues about using artificial intelligence in our work. One of the questions was whether AI would also show emotions, perhaps even anger when things did not go according to plan. One of my colleagues said that this should not be the case, that AI is rather like car navigation, so it always speaks in the same unemotional tone. Like Spock, then.
The video story (if you prefer to read the story, please continue below the video):
I realized that some of us experience navigation differently. I remember when I first noticed this. I was on a business trip, but I had a short errand to run on the way, and at a certain point, I veered off the planned course. The sat-nav virtual assistant, of course, “noticed” that: “Make a U-turn in 200 meters!” Two hundred meters later, just in case, she reminded me: “Make a U-turn now!!”. Already with a slightly raised tone, as if she had foreseen that I would forget to follow the instructions. Of course, I continued straight on my way, and after a few meters, I was warned again in a slightly raised voice: “Make a U-turn in 2 kilometers!!!” So I thought I’d better switch off the navigation or it would end badly. The following command was identical to the one just before the previous junction, “Make a U-turn now!!!!!!!!” but the tone was so threatening that I thought I was going to be beaten if I would have ignored it one more time.
Sounds familiar? Of course, navigation is emotionless and follows only calculations and built-in logic when giving instructions (not commands). But how we as drivers perceive these instructions depends, of course, on our inner voice, which has been shaped in our childhood, in the environment in which we lived, in which we were brought up, and which has shaped us into who we are. If parents have often implanted in their kids a sense of guilt and have been impatient with them, such feelings have become deeply embedded in the child’s inner self. Thus, when we find ourselves in a similar situation in adulthood, even if we are dealing with Siri or a car navigation’s virtual assistant instead of an almighty father, our inner self recognizes the situation, and we relive those feelings of guilt for disobeying authority over and over again. Rather than feeling like Spock, we are acting more like the Jack Russell terrier in the famous logo of the British record label His Master’s Voice.
Of course, we also react similarly when we interact with other people. Still, it isn’t easy to realize this because our counterparts are not Spocks, either. They bring their inner selves to the relationship with all their scars, so it is harder for us to notice it and become aware of our own feelings. But when we feel that Siri is yelling at us, it is easier to realize that the source of the bad feelings is ourselves.
Once we are aware of these feelings, we can start dealing with them. I am not sure if we can eliminate them, but I believe we can learn to live with them, as brilliantly portrayed in the masterpiece A Beautiful Mind, and not let them rule our lives. More importantly, not to pass on such feelings to our children. Not to label them with our feelings of guilt for life. If we manage to do this, we have done a great deal. Stay tuned!
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