Is That Really You? The Key Question of 2024

Welcome to your personal AI chatbot!

Chatbots are nothing new. Remember the days you would pick up the phone and an automated voice prompt would take you through a customer service call? Or how many times you are forced to engage in a text chat with a bot to have a customer service issue resolved?

Most of us are already accustomed to this type of interaction and have learned that to get more information on something, chatbots are the way to go. As a marketer, I like to interact with chatbots of brands to find out how good they are by timing how long it takes before they break, meaning they cannot answer and get stuck, or just send me to speak to a human being. ????

What is different in 2024 and years to come is that chatbots are becoming more personal and the "other you" with apps such as Personal.ai, Pi, Nova, and many more.

Is that really you?

In the past couple of months, I started noticing that some of the emails, text messages, or replies I get from people read a little bit off. For example, while I can sense the regular tone that Josh uses, his email or text reads like repeating words or a choice of words that he typically doesn’t use. Then, it makes me think that he may be using an AI chatbot to manage his communications. Why not? It can be a big-time saver and convenient.? So, with this premise, I ponder:

• Is that really you, my physician, who sets up and communicates my health plan for this year, or is it a chatbot impersonating you with health information taken from what the organization approved for you to share with me?

?? Wait a minute, there are important health issues missing in the plan and you knew of them from the last consultation.

• Is that really you, my boss, who prepared my quarterly performance review, or is it a chatbot that used performance data metrics to prepare the report and sign it for you?

?? Wait a minute, qualitative factors such as leadership and initiative that cannot be easily measured by data are missing in the report.

• Is that really you, my boyfriend, who sent me all those loving text messages, or is it a chatbot that you used to send some quick messages just to entertain me?

?? Wait a minute, you are suddenly so good at writing short love poems to me.

• Is that really you, my teacher, who reviewed and graded my essay, or is it a chatbot that did the grading for you based on a scoring system set up by the academic institution?

?? Wait a minute, I provided a different point of view in the essay that merits a challenge to conventional wisdom.

• Is that really you, my friend, the one who left me a voicemail to finalize the plans for this weekend, or is it a chatbot that impersonated your voice to leave me a message?

?? Wait a minute, your voicemail missed the point that I can’t meet at the seafood restaurant since I am allergic to this food, and you knew about it.

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How would you feel about people closer to you using personal AI chatbots to interact with you? Upset, disappointed, confused, intrigued, curious, thrilled?

If you confront them about the use of this technology, would they tell, dismiss, or lie about it? If you use this technology, would you tell the truth?

Even better, what about if my personal AI chatbot goes rogue and starts messaging or texting people without my knowledge? It is a real possibility. ??

So, our future of communication is learning how to navigate the power of AI with the humility of our human interaction. Each of us will need to find the right balance between these two forces and adapt to the new reality.

#artificial intelligence #deeplearning #consumer #future #health #communication

This article is written in my own words. Excuse my typos. I am only human.