This article talks about the digital media technology in the movie HER and its business, social, and legal/ethical implications.
AI: When Sci-Fi Meets Reality
With the futuristic scenes of Shanghai, the science fiction film “Her” depicts the future artificial intelligence and human interaction. Samantha, the virtual assistant (Figure 1) of the protagonist Theodore, is able to undertake complex tasks, understand natural language, and learn. Samantha’s ability far outstrips what our current AI systems can do, specifically her ability to recognize voices, natural language processing, speech generation, reasoning, and deep learning. The technology behind Samantha is artificial intelligence or AI, the study of how to make a computer perform tasks that would normally require human intelligence. AI is an interdisciplinary field, including the study of natural language processes, computer vision, Internet of things, blockchain and robotics (Rich, 1983). The central technology in AI is machine learning, and the core method for implementing machine learning is through deep learning which is based on learning data representations (Copeland, 2016; LeCun, Bengio, & Hinton, 2015). This paper aims to explore the implications of AI in business, social and legal/ethical aspects.
Business implications
At the moment, the market for AI systems and applications is expanding, and this trend is bringing opportunities to new business models. Some preliminary AI applications, including video suggestions, production recommendations, spam filters and navigation system have already become a part of our daily lives. Many companies are focusing on the research and development of more sophisticated AI systems, such as Tesla’s driverless car, AlphaGo, and the human-like robot Sophia. In the film “Her,” the operating system Samantha has over 8,000 users, and Theodore’s friends are not surprised to hear that he is dating an operating system. It reveals the exponential increase in user adoption that future AI based applications may experience.
More companies are making their AI technologies open source, which significantly departs from the traditional model of software as a service (Corea, 2017). Many of these cutting-edge technologies and algorithms are provided for free and can easily be downloaded. For instance, in 2015, Google released TensorFlow, a machine learning framework, and it is now used by several companies including Dropbox, eBay, Intel, Twitter, and Uber (Garbade, 2018). The open source model would enable more companies and individuals to use, fix bugs and build on top on previous applications and technologies at a lower cost.
Additionally, the integration of AI systems in the service sector, such as chatbots in banking and healthcare, creates more opportunities to provide person-orientation, user-centricity and customer orientation service (Peters & Zaki, 2018). The interplay of artificial and human services may become a priority for planning future service offerings and laying the basis for new business models.
Social implications
The expanded use of AI based technologies may have an impact on social relationships, equality and employment, and education.
Social relationships.
On one hand, virtual AI assistants like Samantha are a convenient addition to any individuals’ life. Chatbots such as Google Home and Amazon echo are very popular today, assisting us in different tasks ranging from managing the home to providing the latest information on any topic that interests the user. On the other hand, people may develop a reliance or attachment to the AI, become isolated or indifferent to people in their material life, and gradually lose the ability to “handle real emotions” (Jonze, 2013).
Equality and employment.
AI is capable of performing tasks that would once have required intensive human labor, replacing humans in basic customer service, handling invoices, and even chasing customers for payments. Though some businesses will benefit from the efficiency and cost savings brought about by AI automation, AI technologies need to be carefully weighed and applied, especially when we consider the potential effects such technologies may have on inequality and unemployment.
Education.
As a former educator, I also find AI may have an impact on education in the future. Similar to how Samantha learns all about Theodore, AI algorithms will help each teacher tailor syllabi and courses to each student’s abilities and interests. Learning will become more personalized and student-centred.
Legal/ethical implications
AI has been gradually integrated into several domains, including social networks, the finance sector, the automation industry, and data analytics. It is starting to challenge the current legal system, as well as social and ethical standards.
Due to the capacity for direct surveillance, combined with increased access, and social meaning, AI applications are becoming a potential means of privacy invasion (Calo, 2011). Privacy is a significant issue in the emerging world of AI, specifically in the relationship between users and their AI applications. Personal AI assistants like Samantha collect and process a great deal of data from their human users in order to accomplish their tasks; companies may then access this data from their customers, and use it for corporate or political purposes. Legislative bodies, technology providers, consumers, and society at large need to update our legal frameworks to address such issues.
Romantic relationships between an AI and their user(s) is also a controversial issue that challenges social norms and human values. Samantha learns to have her own feelings and thoughts by interacting with her user. Samantha reveals that she is simultaneously in love with 641 users and proudly shares her attitude towards love regardless of its contradiction with the general public’s views of traditional relationships. Such human-machine relationship is an issue worth discussing.
References
Calo, M. R. (2011). Robots and privacy. Robot ethics: The ethical and social implications of robotics (pp. 187-206) MIT Press.
Copeland, M. (2016). What’s the difference between artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning? Retrieved from https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2016/07/29/whats-difference-artificial-intelligence-machine-learning-deep-learning-ai/
Corea, F. (2017). Artificial intelligence and exponential technologies: Business models evolution and new investment opportunities. Cham: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-51550-2
Garbade, M. J. (2018). Top 8 open source AI technologies in machine learning. Retrieved from https://opensource.com/article/18/5/top-8-open-source-ai-technologies-machine-learning
Ellison, M., Jonze, S., & Landay, V. (Producers), & Jonze, S. (Director). (2013). Her. [Motion Picture] United States: Warner Bros. Pictures.
LeCun, Y., Bengio, Y., & Hinton, G. (2015). Deep learning. Nature, 521(7553), 436-444. doi:10.1038/nature14539
Peters, C., & Zaki, M. (2018). Modular service structures for the successful design of flexible customer journeys for AI services and business models – orchestration and interplay of services Cambridge Service Alliance, University of Cambridge.
Rich, E. (1983). Artificial intelligence. New York: McGraw-Hill.
© Wenyi Gong 2018
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