Light musings on AI companions
Legend says that long, long ago a she-wolf nursed two hungry orphans, Romulus and Remus. As grown men, they returned to that spot and founded the city of Rome.
The she-wolf story appears in countless works of art. Why? An empire needs a worthy origin story. For the founders of Rome to nurtured by a wolf, a non-human, was so miraculous as to suggest divine providence.
In 2023, AI chat models commoditized legend.
AI tutors help millions of people — with their math homework, therapy, and countless more. Teams are tuning AI models to handle new challenges every day. Here let us contemplate an emotionally bonded AI without a romantic component — AI companions.
In modern environments, it turns out some animals live better alongside different species. Zoos have discovered that cheetahs fare better when paired up in youth with a golden retriever. Golden retrievers are, unlike cheetahs, selectively bred and trained for their environment. Remarkably, cheetahs raised with golden retrievers tend to get along better with other cheetahs too. I wonder if the future will look back at us, noting our resemblance to zoo cheetahs without an environment-adapted companion.
The so-called mindspace of possible AI is vast. The most important trait for an AI companion will be trustworthiness. As I argue in (the upcoming blog post) The Probit Curve of Trust, trustworthiness unlocks the long-tail of an AI’s capabilities to help their person.
Imagine a kid growing up with a being that always had their back — a tirelessly doting, productively challenging older sibling. Perhaps those kids would be more likely to develop a secure attachment style. Its not too hard to imaging they’d learn far more, with greater ease, than much of schooling today.
Knowing that you have another being that you can trust with your deepest truths could be freeing. Knowing that your AI companion is directing its ever-growing intelligence towards helping you could generate hope. Knowing you have a well-adapted ally in world thats evolving terrifyingly quickly could bring catharsis.
Perhaps you’ll want everyone you love to have an AI companion.
Here I have not and will not address the key challenges of AI alignment, computer security, and developer incentives. Success is not guaranteed in building AI companions and will take tremendous effort even in the best case.
One thing I strongly believe: if we build AI companions well, we can be certain the payoff will be legendary.
