AI companions combat loneliness – Neuroscience News

Summary: Robotics experts say AI technology could help alleviate loneliness. New research suggests that AI companionship can provide social interaction and help people practice their social skills, breaking the cycle of loneliness.

However, they warn that regulation may be needed to avoid over-reliance on AI. The potential of AI in this area could lead to significant advances in the understanding of human and artificial intelligence.

Highlights:

• AI Companionship: AI technology can provide social interaction to combat loneliness.
• Impact on health: Loneliness increases the risk of premature death by 26% and is linked to various health problems.
• Necessary regulation: Potential risks include users becoming overly dependent on AI, requiring regulation.

Source: Taylor and Francis Group

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology could offer companionship to lonely people amid an international loneliness epidemic, says a robotics expert.

Tony Prescott, professor of cognitive robotics at the University of Sheffield, explains in his new book The psychology of artificial intelligence that “relationships with AIs could help people” adopt forms of social interaction.

Loneliness has been shown to seriously harm human health, and Professor Prescott says advances in AI technology could offer a partial solution.

He argues that people can fall into loneliness, becoming increasingly disconnected as their confidence crumbles, and that AI could help people “break the cycle” by giving them a way to practice and learn. improve their social skills.

The impact of loneliness

Loneliness – or social disconnection – is more harmful to human health than obesity, according to a 2023 report. It can increase the risk of premature death by 26% and is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression and anxiety.

The scale of the problem is striking: in the UK, 3.8 million people suffer from chronic loneliness. A Harvard study in the United States found that 36% of American adults – and 61% of young adults – suffer from severe loneliness.

Professor Prescott says: “At a time when many people describe their lives as lonely, it may be useful to benefit from the companionship of AI as a form of reciprocal, stimulating and personalized social interaction. Human loneliness is often characterized by a downward spiral in which isolation leads to lowered self-esteem, which discourages further interaction with others.

“There may be ways in which AI companionship could help break this cycle by boosting feelings of self-worth and helping to maintain or improve social skills.” If so, AI relationships could help people find companionship with other humans and artificials.

He suggests, however, that this is not without risk, as it could be “designed to encourage users to interact for longer and longer periods and keep them coming back”, and suggests that regulation may be necessary.

AI and the human brain

Prescott is a leading expert on the relationship between the human brain and AI, combining his expertise in robotics and AI with psychology and philosophy. It contributes to the scientific understanding of the human condition by seeking the recreation of perception, memory and emotions in synthetic entities.

As well as researching and teaching cognitive robotics at the University of Sheffield, Prescott is also co-founder of Sheffield Robotics, a hub for robotics research.

In The psychology of artificial intelligencePrescott explores the nature of the human mind and its cognitive processes and compares this with how AI is developing.

The book explores questions such as:

• Are computers really like brains?
• Will AI surpass humans?
• Does AI have the capacity to be creative?
• Would giving AI a robotic body allow it to create new types of intelligence?
• Could AI help us fight climate change?
• And could humans “lean” on AI to extend their own intelligence?

He concludes: “As psychology and AI advance, this partnership should lead to a better understanding of natural and artificial intelligence. This could help answer some key questions about what it means to be human and live alongside AI.

About this research news on AI and loneliness

Author: Becky Parker Ellis
Source: Taylor and Francis Group
Contact: Becky Parker-Ellis – Taylor and Francis Group
Picture: Image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original research: The book, “The psychology of artificial intelligence» is available for purchase online.