[ENG] Eliza and The Artificial Future

Technology is evolving rapidly today, it feels like we've been barely introduced to DVD discs and in just few next months these very same discs will become an interesting relic of the past. Today we have SSD drives and enormous USB flash drives as a commodity... Like, look – just few years ago we looked at 64 or 128GB flash drives as an enormous technological achievement. Today? There are literally 1 and 2TB (1TB equals to 1024GB for clarity) flash drives Of course they cost as much as a high-end computer (around 1000/1100€) but... Can you imagine over a thousand gigabytes fitting comfortably right into your pocket? - flash drives, smartphones, even SSD drives that are a bit smaller than HDD ones. We live in bizarre times; in times where everything is becoming smaller and larger at the same time.

And the same principle not only applies to things that were small enough to begin with. The first computer was borderline impossible to transport easily and took quite a lot of space overall. And look where we are today – laptops and notebooks that can be transported without much effort using bag or a backpack (duh, even smartphones today are being called as pocket computers and... that's not far from the truth – internal memory, processors, ability to quickly write/read anything... Long story short – we have instant access to many things on our phones, many things that not-so-long ago were available only on computers) but... Come on, even most desktop computers can be easily packed and transported.

But there are fields where it may not be so simple – artificial intelligence. There are many questions, hopes and concerns about it – some are scared that AI will be the end of all humanity, some are scared that AI will steal their job; others say AI can help us in many fields and automatize many processes, jobs and everyday chores – but despite this field constantly changing and evolving, many of these fears are pointless... I mean, they can become relevant later when it's too late, and it's not to say that AI is too stupid or underdeveloped. Far from it – many gigantic companies use AI in everyday processes, duh, AI is often with us in our everyday lives without realizing it because... We either don't notice it or we take it for granted – one of the simplest examples I can think of right now. Face ID. The thing that you could unlock your phone by simply looking at it is amazing! Or so popularized in recent years Smart Home – AI may look like really underdeveloped branch of technology for someone who isn't really interested in these things or just thinks a certain way... But with self-driving cars already on the roads and many more being still in development... AI will only grow better and better which in effect will cause more and more fear about AI taking over/enslaving/eliminating humanity. And recently I started thinking about AI branch and AI

technology in general due to particular game...

(You will see this screen quite a few times during the story)

Eliza. Title of this game directly refers to one of the earliest AI programs called... Well – Eliza. To put it shortly, the game is a visual novel about AI controlled mental therapy... Sounds strange, the premise for the first few minutes seems strange as well but... Without spoiling much, I have to say – I am not a very big fan of visual novels but this game got my attention pretty quickly and I was eager to see what will happen with Evelyn as well as her clients. But... The longer I played this game, the more I was thinking about AI and it's true possibilities. Would an AI even be able to comprehend the deepness and complexity of human emotions? And if yes, would it be able to help them as much or maybe even better than other human? Would an AI be able to understand, admire and create poems? These are just example questions that bothered be during my journey with Eliza and... These are questions that still stick somewhere in the back of my head. Just imagine going one day to talk with psychiatrist or just casually reading a nice poem you found on the internet or maybe someone sent it to you... And then, you come to a realization that this psychiatrist/poem (These are very different yet very similar – whereas one tries to understand and help you with emotions, second one helps to convey them and maybe awake the same feelings in others. I will stop with giving two versions because it can get too complicated too soon... I'll talk about psychiatrist case for now) just to find out that... You aren't talking with a human. That you're throwing away your emotions to a cold machine that is simply there to take whatever you'll give to it, process it and give you the answer it thinks is the best for you. Maybe for some people it's just right because... Maybe they need someone/something to listen to their negative emotions, their fears and worries out to clear themselves... In that case – a machine would do just right, but for more complex problems? Where you need to dive deep into mentality of certain person to understand why they think a certain way and help them carefully? Maybe a highly advanced AI would be capable of such a thing, but there is no way to be sure...

(Person dealing with serious issues with himself, undervaluing his worth and denying possibilities of positive life... AI could help here, it can analyze and maybe suggest something but... I still think nothing beats human understanding)

Plus there is no certainty that these machines would look like computers, phones or anything similar. I assume concept of an android is already well known so... Highly advanced AI looking like a human with soothing voice with algorithm that has learned how to deal with various mental problems? Sounds... Utopian and dangerous if it were to break or for some reason go haywire. But we can expand our imagination further than just mental services. A well trained and information-fed AI could perform surgeries much quicker and maybe even reduce the amount of failed ones... Buuut it also comes with a whole lot of possible drawbacks – first of all the AI would need to be really trained and tested before being put to autonomic surgery (There are AI-Assisted Surgeries today, but... That's the point – Assisted. Not autonomic.) and... Do I really need to tell how dangerous would be for such an AI to suddenly lose power or become self-aware? But... Let's take a step back from health service in general... Well-programmed and trained AI could very well analyze and find what is currently trending or what people could like and in effect it could write movie scripts, songs etc. etc. Of course it's very arguable if these scripts and lyrics would be on par or even better with today's hits... It would certainly lack depth and thought poured into the project as well as possibly the time and the corrections but...I think it would be really interesting to compare human writing and ideas to ones generated by an AI... Of course we would need a specific AI for such things, but only the time will tell if such an AI will even be created.

(That is true - this sole quote puts an entire concept of AI mental therapy into question... At least in my book)

Although I was really well aware of AI and it's quite rapid development, Eliza made me aware of future possibilities I didn't really think of... Because... When I was thinking about an AI (and this is the way of thinking for many people probably) – I liked to think about extremes – AI used in war, total control and zero freedom due to AI advancements but... I didn't really think of AI being used in so advanced, deep and touchy medical field that is psychology, I didn't think of fully developed and trained (though still learning) AI taking care of patients with various mental needs... But I still think that no matter how well AI will be trained, nothing can replace human understanding and empathy.

I highly encourage you to check out Eliza for yourself – even if you aren't a big fan of visual novels; even if you aren't really keen on the idea of futurism, AI and all of that – the game is easily accessible due to it's quite a low price and length – Eliza takes around 3 to 4 hours to finish (maybe a bit more if you're slow reader and/or just want to carefully enjoy everything) but I don't see a problem with putting more hours in this game just because... It's something amazing, it puts some things into perspective

Kind Regards,

Wing.