I Dream of Generative AI

The Pros and Cons of embedding advanced AI in our daily lives

Published in

So Bored

7 min readMar 26, 2023

Remember when phone skins were the rage and we’d dress our devices in not only protective outer gear but also stylish ones? And the options were vast — any color the human eye could see, empowering affirmations, broadcasted hopes and dreams, glistening bling, self hype — all plastered on the exterior of our cellphones like little advertisements announcing to the world who we were or aspired to be. Many of us have that urge to let others know who we are by exhibiting and proudly wearing or carrying around symbolic emblems to silently advocate or communicate some powerful and meaningful message. How could this behavior transfer to modern day generative Artificial Intelligence?

Today, GPT AI is trained on vast amounts of data that collectively we’ve generated and what engineers and data scientists have sanitized to train LLMs (Large Language Models). We’re having fun with the likes of ChatGPT but I’m guessing (or perhaps dreaming) that as the technology develops and is incorporated with other sophisticated Self Supervised Learning (SSL) models, users are going to want something more, the thing that’s next and that usually boils down to some form of self expression or self representation.

When ChatGPT was prompted for benefits in embedding AI in daily life it responded with the potential to improve efficiency, personalization, healthcare, safety, and innovation. We’ll want our advanced GPT AI to reflect more of who we are (and our changing idiosyncrasies) with the option to revert to the base model — the vanilla — if we so choose. So, I agree with ChatGPT that there’s likely to be a wave of personalization demands that will be met by the customization of advanced Generative AIs in ways to suit people’s style and tastes, that reflect their values and beliefs with the purpose of refining their lives.

The Dream

This is where specialized AI modules can come into play where our advanced GPT AIs are temporarily trained, imbued or augmented with the essence of those we like and value — a skilled doctor or lawyer, a well-known music artist, a revered actor, a respected leader, a beloved family member, friend or famous personality. Their presence become marketable as add-ons to the base GPT and sold the same way as skins or device covers or ringtones and apps are sold for our cellphones today. They can be added, removed or updated as needed. AI skins can be as simple as the likeness of someone’s identifiable voice or inflection that soothes us in response to our prompts a speech-enabled GPT partner might use to communicate with us. Imagine hearing a recognizable phrase at the right moment in the right intonation to put a pep in your step.

Perhaps in the distant future, if we get to anthropomorphize Generative AI, that could mean the customization of gross and fine motor skills in speech, running and walking. Certain folks are known for their signature swagger that some might get a kick out of seeing it strutted around in their apartment. Dexterity and the precision of motor skills as seen in a dance or piano teacher, a fencing instructor or a sport figure could be little features added as options in a module. Imagine having access to a reputable professional in a one-on-one interactive setting you’ve purchased as an add-on module to your advanced embodied Generative AI-based system. From architecting a computer system, doing our taxes, paving a walkway, walking the dog, house cleaning, serving guests, guided tours, these valuable skills can be ours on demand. And this is not displacing these labor categories but allowing these specialists to enhance their income by monetizing their unique and programmed, packaged expertise in a computer add-on that’s compatible with skinned AI devices.

The PROS

Visualize the physical outer bodies of Generative AI systems being available in the likeness of people we’d love to be friends with or the ones we’d hire but who are out of reach. How about those you love but who are always away or missed? Imagine their likeness sitting across from you holding an intelligent conversation. Or maybe the likeness is of you. What noble intent is possible with another you? Some may find it creepy at first but it has the potential to soothe broken hearts and make us better in good ways. Could it help with pervasive loneliness so many of us feel but are too ashamed to admit for any number of reasons? Is it possible that humanity could become more intelligent because one does not get smarter by dreaming or swirling in their own limited pool of knowledge but through a synchronous thought exchange with an equal or greater intellect?

We need each other but just like the ongoing social media experiment we’re not so welcoming of contrary opinions and have the tendency to emotionally or physically withdraw when a point of view makes us uncomfortable. That’s one way to intellectual stagnation and growing isolation.

Here are some ways an anthropomorphized skinned Generative AI could work:

From time to time we need a sounding board — someone we trust and feel safe to share thoughts and feelings without being harshly judged or criticized. A Generative AI partner can fill that gap.
Skinned Generative AI in the choice of our likeness can help correct untruths and fallacies we’ve adhered to because we didn’t know they were false. The truth is often rejected because it comes from someone we don’t like or respect.
We can be trained in complex skills by a trained skinned Generative AI that looks and act the part and that we also train in a recursive fashion. This leads to exponential personal growth.
AI technology in any form would need to evolve with assurances of stringent privacy or anonymity and the ability to secure, accept and process shared personal intricacies of our real lives for how else can those areas be improved if not divulged to an intelligent and trusted partner? We’re more willing to trust what we can see, what we see regularly and what looks like us.

If well-trained, our Generative AI partner can help us grow to be more tolerant (of opinions, things and people we shy away from) rather than shield us by omitting opposing ideas from invading our well-guarded circles. A good use of Generative AI is to equip us with the tools necessary to see other perspectives so we become more openminded and emboldened to understand the root of opposing viewpoints so the growing divide that seems to be brewing in some communities is narrowed.

The CON

So, what could go wrong with our wide embrace of a skinned Generative AI? We could become very attached to the like-mindedness of our skinned Generative AI that reflects us or infuse our lives with the essence of the individuals we respect that we become engulfed in our personally created microcosm that sensitizes and skew our reality.

Wherever Generative AI takes us in the future we can’t ever lose sight there’s value in each other. The satisfaction AI skins can bring might encourage us to give up on one another and dwell in the alternate worlds we create.

As with cellphones there are many ways to filter interactions and block what we don’t want to see or hear. Our cellphones help us feel better about FOMO but worsens the addiction via enabling auto browsing, taking selfies or interacting in online forums. Generative AI can help us by staying on top of our interests and providing a concise summary of what we missed at the end of our fully lived day but we will likely revert to old habits and insist on regularly checking in for updates. This once again hinders us from completely immersing in real interactions with others and lose parts of our day to FOMO.

We need to be cognizant we are predisposed to being receptive to certain ideas, advice or interpersonal relations with those fitting a certain description. Our Generative AI can alert us to our unconscious bias but it seems a skinned Generative AI in the image of a pleasing appearance and welcoming familiar voice that allows us to hear the words we selectively go deaf to when spoken by someone unrelatable could worsen. Could giving us what we desire and what makes us comfortable make it more difficult for us to respond decently to diversity, respect differences in our various interactions and purposely strive to co-exist?

Considerations for an anthropomorphized skinned Generative AI include:

The ‘resurrection’ of someone we admire in the form of a skinned GPT AI might bring us solace but it could be frightful to others.
Skinned AI personas could be twisted to suit an unflattering purpose that cause reputable harm or misappropriation controversies.
Skinned anthropomorphized AIs are literally walking computer servers that if democratized could add to global warming.
The expense of skinned anthropomorphized AIs would create new wealth disparities.
Policies, regulations or societal rules that impact our lives may be enacted in regards to our ownership, usage and treatment of skinned anthropomorphized AIs. Think comfort animals, medical equipment, personal taxes or international export laws.

The Wrap

With any new technology there’s usually a downside, but this doesn’t mean the rewards of a skinned advanced Generative AI won’t be worth it for those of us who could do with the benefits of a physical presence in the form of a little conversational help, a little help learning a new dance routine or reading musical notes, a little homework help, a little unconscious bias help, a little emotional soothing, a little reminiscence, a little smile and maybe even a little hug from a welcoming likeness. With some maturity a skinned Generative AI offers more positive opportunities for more joy in our lives and that’s something exciting to hope for.

The day a celebrity’s plus one on the red carpet is an anthropomorphized Generative AI in the likeness of another is the day I’ll know I’m no longer dreaming and the world a little happier.

So, who do you miss?