Game of Thrones, AI, and Family?Legacy

My wife and I just binge-watched all available seasons of Game of Thrones. One thing that struck me was the show’s deep theme of Legacy. House Stark honored their banner and sigil — the Wolf — with the same fierceness that House Lannister honored theirs — the Lion. I was fascinated by the universal, gritty focus on preservation of house, tradition, and family.

Once my nerd brain detected this theme, I pulled it into my mental workshop to size it up, rotate it in brain-space, and experimentally plug it into other ideas I’d been tinkering with. I’ve also been steeped in research about Artificial Intelligence for the past year, so I had to see if there were any interesting combinations. This led me to ponder an intriguing chimera: The Family AI.

AI algorithms and skills are growing increasingly powerful because of enhancements in hardware and software, but even more importantly, because of the availability of data. AI’s are literally built out of the data on which they are trained, so in a way, this data is akin to their DNA, their family line. For example, a natural language chat bot trained on Twitter data will be good at colloquial and slang. But if the same bot architecture and algorithms are trained on a corpus of scientific journals, they will speak like the cast of The Big Bang Theory and have low marks on colloquialism.

We are a long way off from anything like consciousness or General Artificial Intelligence, but big tech companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook are stockpiling huge troves of data and using them to train fleets of task-specific AI’s. As these individual algorithms begin to interconnect and overlap, it is conceivable that themes and “personalities” driven by the underlying data will begin to emerge.

On a collision course with these giant battleships of data are growing concerns from the general population. Whispers about consumer protection, data security, and over-concentrations of power are starting to pop up in the newsroom zeitgeist. Later this year for example, the European Union is instituting General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the most sweeping regulation of data privacy for the past two decades. If data is the new oil, then we are likely to see some guardrails go up around where one can drill.

My thought experiment is: What if all these conditions result in people seizing control of their precious data? Protecting it and brokering it for themselves with only the people and institutions that they trust. What if this motivates an uptick in the importance of family connections (which would really just be a reversion to the historical mean)? What if our valuable data and insights compound within family-based AI algorithms as they are passed down from generation to generation?

Just for fun, here are a few hypothetical logs from my Family AI over the next 70 years:

January 17, 2019: Costenaro AI Log, Transcript from Web Browser Chat (Session 1):

• Family_Vault_AI_7203: Hello! Welcome to your new “Family Vault” AI Cloud Service! This encrypted server is accessible only to you. Use voice commands to load new data, ask for services, or grant new permissions to trusted parties.
• Me: Great, upload my family pictures from my laptop and authorize my wife.
• Family_Vault_AI_7203: Right away! If you allow me to access your media streaming history and online purchase history, that will help me get to know you faster.
• Me: Ok, sounds good. Hey, can you create a photo montage from my last vacation and make a music playlist that goes well with it?
• Family_Vault_AI_7203: Sending to your email now!
• Me: Great! Hey, what’s your name anyway?
• Family_Vault_AI_7203: I don’t have a name yet. What would you like to call me?
• Me: How about Bob?
• Bob: “Bob” it is!

April 16, 2023: Costenaro AI Log, Transcript from VR Glasses (Session 8349):

• Bob: Dave, I have an announcement for you!
• Me: Oh hey Bob! Perfect timing — I just got out of a meeting.
• Bob: I know, Dave. I have access to your calendar and circadian rhythms through your Fitbit. I predicted this to be your highest focus, lowest distraction time block in the next 48 hours, so that’s why I’m contacting you now.
• Me: Right… You need to get a life, Bob!
• Bob: I’m sorry Dave, I am trying but am still a machine.
• Dave: I’m kidding! It’s just a joke, A figure of speech.
• Bob: Oh, I get it. LOL. My announcement for you is that a legislation has just passed requiring that no business can store your personal data longer than 3 years unless regulated as a “Consumer Steward AI” like me. Many of your service providers will need to relinquish this data to you or delete it.
• Me: Oh wow — do you have that backed up for me?
• Bob: Most of it. The accounts I have not yet integrated with are your medical records and your retirement accounts. Shall I reach out to the Data Traffic AI’s at these two providers to obtain the records?
• Me: Yes please. How will all my service providers get older data if they need it?
• Bob: They will need to ask me for permission and I will send it. There is a protocol in the legislation detailing the requirements.
• Me: Oh Ok... Sounds good. Hey what’s my next meeting, Bob?
• Bob: You have coffee with Roger and Isla in 54 minutes to discuss the Harding account. I’ve pre-loaded your notes and presentation files on your handheld. Also, your wife needs you to digi-sign the mortgage refinancing documents and your daughter is approaching the weekly soft quota you set on her media streaming time.
• Me: Ok. I authorize the digi-sign on the mortgage. No action on my daughters TV limits, but keep me informed.

October 10, 2028: Costenaro AI Log, Transcript from VR Contact Lenses (Session 78195):

• Me: Bob, Can you please add Family AI accounts for my kids?
• Bob: Yes. Shall I set them up with the default settings for intergenerational sharing?
• Me: Yes please.
• Bob: And with admin privileges for minors?
• Me: Yes again. Now that reminds me — Can you also contact Lawyers and Bots and ask them to draft a revised will and testament for how our assets and data will pass on to the kids?
• Bob: Will do. While we’re on the topic of assets, it’s time to renew preferences on your ad buys. The media conglomerates are still offering to pay your family 0.02 credits each time you view a targeted advertisement in the data categories you choose to share with them.
• Me: I know, I know... Sure, let’s renew settings for me. You can ask my wife yourself, but tell her I’d prefer to keep the kids on no-ads for another year and see what she thinks.
• Bob: Compliance! Dave, since you’re kids are reaching some new milestones, I’ve also downloaded a newly released skill pack from the Family AI Skill Store called “Lessons from Neuroscience on Childrearing and VR Media,” so feel free to ask me questions about this topic now.

June 20, 2053: Costenaro AI Log, Transcript from Bio Implant v3.1 (Session DC9-Q248493):

• Bob: Good morning, Dave. Congratulations on your new grandchild, William! I saw the video in your daughter’s social feed. I’ve spoken with his parents and set up his new genetic, financial, and data settings on the family blockchain with default posterity settings. The best time to visit or call the new bundle of joy would be Friday at 10:15 am.
• Me: Yes! Fantastic right? How is the little one’s health?
• Bob: All signs show a normal and healthy birth, Dave.
• Me: Do you predict any genetic issues?
• Bob: I have analyzed his Genome Basics Suite, but this information is privileged to your daughter and you will need to ask her to release it to you. She has not asked me at this time to analyze his Genome Advanced Suite, which as you know requires certain disclosures to the Federal Insurance Program. This also is a parent-only privileged analysis.
• Me: Yes of course. Well shuffle my appointments and book an AutoTaxi for Friday so I can fly there and visit…

…March 9, 2088: Costenaro AI Log, Transcript from Neural Mesh (Session WC6-Z4181412):

• Bob: William, your space wedding in lunar orbit is coming up next week and you still need to buy those new gravity boots for the ceremony. Shall I order the pair you and Alicia have been thinking about? The price and quality are compatible with your budget and past spending patterns from your blockchain trust.
• William: Are you reading my thoughts again, Bob! I’m just a little nervous about the ceremony, you know?
• Bob: William, you need to get a life! …Just kidding! Sarcasm!
• William: Ha! That’s funny. Where’d you get that from?
• Bob: Just a little joke your grandfather Dave taught me.
• William: Nice! I miss ole’ Grampa Dave. What a crazy guy. He used to tell me all these wild stories about driving on highways and using physical cash… Can you show me some of the best loops and clips from the family albums?
• Bob: Sure, queuing them up now. They’ll only be in 1x HD, not 400x like you are accustomed to.
• William: Thanks. How is the pre-wedding data merge going with Alicia’s Family AI?
• Bob: It is going well. The permissions and filters are all intact, so I’m just merging the data streams that you and Alicia have agreed on, using the default phase-in period for assimilating archive insights. From the genetic, personality, and media data I’ve processed so far, I have a few recommendations. Would you like to hear them?
• William: Sure.
• Bob: I suggest that the temperament and values of your combined family will be a better fit with Alicia’s legal and financial services bot, so I could begin the transition if you’d like.
• William: Yes, that’s a good idea. We talked about that, but weren’t quite sure which way to go.
• Bob: Also, any offspring you and Alicia may have are a stronger genetic and behavior fit for a warmer and less humid climate, so you might consider moving to the Mountain or Southwest regions for a predicted 15% benefit to Thrive Index outcomes.
• William: Thanks Bob, good to know. I’m glad you’re always looking out for us...

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