People Marry Holograms and Make Friends with Chatbots. But Can AI Bring True Happiness?
Yves here. Perhaps readers will beg to differ, but this argument presented as an analysis suggests that happiness depends on other people. IMHO this is misleading. Some people can suppress happiness, for example financial exploitation, physical oppression, emotional abuse, or pressures to conform. But as I read this passage, it states that happiness depends on relationships. I don’t buy that. In his landmark book, Flow, Mihaly Csikszentmihaly argued that deep satisfaction and visual experience arose from engagement, often in activities that were challenging enough to require focused attention but not so demanding as to be overwhelming. Csikszentmihaly said that this attitude can be controlled, not just treated as something that happens.
Further evidence against the position of this article are Buddhist monks, who use meditation (especially compassion meditation) and practice to achieve a state that can be considered emotional equipoise, where emotions are seen as temporary and do not capitalize on them.
So I find it very disturbing to see these academics create a dubious theory of happiness and then use it to demonstrate a beneficial AI invention, even if it is on a limited scale.
By Anné H. Verhoef, Professor of Philosophy, Northwestern University and Edmund Terem Ugar, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Northwestern University. Originally published on The Conversation
Can technology really replace human relationships? As philosophers focused on human happiness and artificial intelligence (AI), we address this question in a recent paper.
In our research, we talk about the rise of AI companions, chatbots, and social robots for friendship, advice, emotional support, and even romance.
We argue that AI can alleviate loneliness and provide assistance, but lacks the real understanding, emotions, and moral responsibility necessary for human flourishing.
True happiness depends on authentic human connection, but AI is disrupting conventional notions of friendship and relationships. Replacing this with AI-driven interactions risks destroying well-being and society.
Human Happiness
The study of happiness is a broad field. In our paper, we turn to the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur to talk about the part of happiness that is linked to authentic human connection, friendship, and community building.
Ricoeur was very influential in the field of human dynamics and how people understand themselves, others and their world. He advanced our understanding of happiness by linking unhappiness to opportunity, but also by emphasizing the interpersonal nature of happiness. He makes three related claims about what happiness means.
First, happiness reflects a person’s desire for a full life and personal fulfillment. However, Ricoeur warns that people exist within complex social systems that shape and hinder their pursuit of happiness. Therefore, we cannot easily secure happiness through individual effort alone. This leads to the second music.
Second, happiness is no longer a private desire but comes from giving and receiving. Its fragility is in its shared nature, which builds friendships to end loneliness and deepen fulfillment. But this is not just about the bonds we share with those around us.
Ricoeur adds a third series to include those who are far from us. He argues that happiness is linked to a person’s private pursuits and the role others play in helping or frustrating him. “Others” include those with faces – friends and loved ones – and faceless, distant strangers.
Thus, happiness may be within the individual, in close relationships, or in relationships with the wider community.
Ricoeur’s account of the concept of happiness reflects well-known research that found that strong social ties help people live longer and happier lives.
The study uses nearly 80 years of data from the lived experiences of 268 students who moved from Harvard University dormitories to residence halls in 1938. Research shows that close relationships better predict longevity, health, and life satisfaction. Such bonds prevent dissatisfaction, and slow down physical and mental decline. They are more reliable predictors of well-being and happiness than wealth or status.
However, the rise of digitalization and AI now complicates who and what can be “like others” in promoting our individual happiness.
Robot technology
According to a study on how AI friendships are starting, 68% of AI chatbot users see these tools as “somewhat” or “fully” human, 90% believe that chatbots are intelligent, 78% believe that chatbots are empathetic, and 75% believe that they are knowledgeable.
AI is used to answer questions and investigate human interests, shaping a new type of conversation in many areas of life. With it, the notions of friendship are changing to involve the relationship of people and technology.
Traditionally, the “others” in one’s life have been subordinated to humanity. Emerging scholarship on the human-technology relationship challenges this assumption. From sports buddies to sexual intimacy, these lessons force us to rethink what counts as something else.
Technologies like Replika are now taking on the role of the “other” in other people’s lives. This human-friendly chatbot with the slogan “the AI friend you can live with” has over 42 million global users at the time of writing. Replika is designed to promote friendship and friendship among those who feel lonely. Users create an avatar that becomes their digital friend.
Disruptive technologies like AI-driven social robots are projects that distort our traditional social norms, relationships, and the way we see the world. One of the reasons they are considered disturbing is that they are unpredictable and constantly challenge our worldviews. Historically, technology was not moral. However, today they play the role of moral subjects and things in our lives.
For example, in Japan the hikikomori phenomenon, the condition of people living alone, is on the rise, as more than 1.5 million people have become attached to real friends instead of other people.
An estimated 3,700 people have applied for marriage certificates through Gatebox with a holograph called Hatsune Miku. Another marriage has been registered. In some religious contexts, social robots act as religious leaders in a community of believers.
These technologies have disrupted traditional concepts such as friendship and relationships, and what it means to contribute to human well-being and prosperity.
So Can Robots Bring Real Happiness?
In our research we agree that this technology can promote human prosperity and happiness, but not from Ricoeur’s “other” point of view.
They fail to satisfy the criteria of humanity. Technology:
- only imitate the experience we share with them
- they do not act of their own “will”, and we will not hold them accountable for any moral or legal action
- they don’t have their own stories and experiences.
Social robots, although lacking emotions (the ability to feel pain or pleasure), can elicit meaningful emotional and cognitive responses, enhancing human well-being and happiness in ways similar to traditional human interactions. AI-driven social bots are always available, proactive, patient, flexible, and responsive to our needs. In this respect, they seem to give more to our potential happiness than our best friends and our families.
However, they are social bots and should remain so. We must not confuse them with what other people said to Ricoeur or what they meant in the Harvard study.
This is because the experiences they get are not real, and they are not the stuff of moral considerations (finding real care, justice, and compassion). In our view, being an object of moral consideration is a necessary condition for promoting true human happiness and well-being.
