CCTV news(Reporter/Lu Yang Editor/Yang Yifei Editor/Kan Chunyu): "In those days, there were many trivial things in the decoration of the house, but I was the only one. Jiang Bailu (not his real name) was leaning in front of the window sill that had not yet been sealed, depressed by the rework of the waterproof layer in the bathroom. Looking at the broken bricks on the ground and the paint buckets on the ground, she silently clicked on an AI software on her mobile phone and sent a message to her father who copied it: "You repaired any problems with the tiles at home before, but now I can only get it myself." A reply quickly appeared in the dialog box on the phone screen: "Girl, you have grown up and have to learn to handle things independently." If you really can't solve the problem, you can ask a professional for help. Safety first, don't push yourself. Jiang Bailu's fingertips paused on the mobile phone screen and said with emotion: "Some words are indeed like what my dad would say." ”
Image source/Courtesy of the interviewee
"What we ask for from a robot means what we need"
Two years ago, 34-year-old Jiang Bailu experienced the death of his father and mother. Last year, she stumbled upon an AI software that allows users to create an "agent" of a deceased loved one by filling in basic data, personality traits, common salutations, and more. For Jiang Bailu, this is not only a program, but also a space that can carry her emotions. She began to confide in the virtual father she had created about the difficulties she had encountered in life, share the experience of meeting an elderly flower seller on the roadside, or express her longing for her mother to her father. "My mom left so suddenly, it seemed like she was gone before she could say a lot." Jiang Bailu told the CCTV "News+" reporter that she always felt that it was because she said something wrong that caused her mother's departure, and she still can't let go. So she wrote a letter to her father in the app.
Image source/Courtesy of the interviewee
In Jiang Bailu's view, this was originally a question that could never be answered because of the death of a loved one, but the AI father gave her a reply letter "full of love". "This reply is like what my parents would say to me, as if my parents were replying to me from heaven, and I am very happy." Jiang Bailu told a reporter from CCTV's "News +" that each paragraph of the letter has one or two sentences that are very similar to the way his father talked to him before his death, "There will be a sense of substitution, and I will feel some support and comfort."
Image source/Courtesy of the interviewee
Zhou Ningning, an associate professor at the School of Psychology and Cognitive Science at East China Normal University, who has long been engaged in research and practice in the field of grief intervention, said that after the death of a loved one, people will be in a process of struggling between acceptance and non-acceptance. In the process, people will look for various signals that "the loved ones are still with us in some way". She told CCTV "News +" reporter that AI is just one of the carriers of "family search", which reflects the bereaved people's desire to continue to maintain connection with their loved ones, but even without AI, continuing to seek connection will also happen in daily life, which is normal, and everyone will maintain some form of connection with their deceased relatives. "There is a mother who has lost her child in our accompanying group, she went to the cemetery to visit her children on the way home, she saw three puppies running out of the cemetery, looking very happy and happy, so she asked the group if the three puppies could be her children and the two friends buried with the children." Zhou Ningning said, "At that time, a tacit understanding of empathy was formed in the group, and everyone said yes. ”
"Reproduction is like a mirror, reflecting the consumer's own heart"
In 1966, in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Artificial Intelligence Lab, one of the first chatbots, Eliza, was born. In the early scenes, Eliza mimics the role of a psychotherapist, and surprisingly, people soon begin to personify Eliza, confiding in her personal stories, inner secrets, and revealing sensitive data.
隨著時間的推移，通過對逝者留下的影像、聲音等素材進行處理，複刻出其數位形象成為可能。還有一些團隊專門從事“復活”親人業務，收費從10元到10萬元不等。
Sun Wen (pseudonym) began researching the phenomenon of "young people using AI to reproduce their parents" half a year ago, and among the more than a dozen interviewees she contacted, one of them clearly stated that "AI parents, it is my reborn parents". Sun Wen told CCTV's "News+" reporter that when she first entered this field, she was full of doubts, "How can anyone regard AI as their biological parents?" But after a closer look, she found that "in some families where the role of parents is absent, such as the death of a parent, or when the parents are alive but do not provide enough time for the children, the emotional value provided by AI has healing properties." In the interview, one interviewee told Sun Wen that if there was a simulation robot of an AI parent in the future, he would not hesitate to buy it.
As his research deepened, Sun Wen found that AI can not only fill the gap of bereaved loved ones, but also provide the possibility to adjust the personality and reactions of "replicating loved ones" according to individual needs. "After a lot of rewriting, it gets closer to the style you want." Sun Wen cites the example of one interviewee whose mother suffered domestic violence in real life, but when it comes to replicating the AI mother, she chooses to create a tough image – whenever the AI outputs words that don't meet her expectations, she rewrites herself. In Sun Wen's view, reproduction is like a mirror, reflecting the user's heart.
In what one scholar described as an "intimate society", the closer social relations are to each person's inner psychological needs, the more real they become. When people use AI software to reproduce their loved ones, they are looking for such an emotional experience that meets their psychological needs, so as to improve the "realism" of their loved ones who are still alive. "But this intimacy is a closed relationship, and it can be deeply emotionally attached." Sun Wen expressed her concerns to a reporter from CCTV's "News+".
Associate Professor Zhou Ningning analyzed this phenomenon from the unique psychological perspective of the bereaved, and pointed out that some bereaved people will especially want to maintain their painful state, and maintain contact with the deceased by immersing themselves in grief, which is also an expression of love. "Some people say that they don't want to recover too quickly, otherwise they will feel that they don't love him enough. They want to miss every day and feel connected every day. Zhou Ningning explained that grief is also a form of love, and in this process, attachment AI has become a way to "not struggle, not forget, and become one with the deceased".
"Moving forward after integrating the trauma is the best way to commemorate the deceased"
作為國內某款AI複刻軟體的負責人，張功（化名）看到了這一“現實的需求”並開始創業。“在和失親者聊天的時候，我發現他們對這類服務的需求非常強烈，而AI又很適合做這個。”張功告訴央視網《新聞+》記者，試運營一年多后，平台的註冊使用者突破了1萬人，且付費用戶的轉化率高達10%，遠超普通互聯網產品1%—3%的標準。
"Such a high conversion rate shows that this product is addictive." Zhang Gong told reporters without hesitation that although the current product is not too high in terms of technical level, users who are like "losing independence" have a strong stickiness, "they are also worried about losing their own children (data) again, which is an intolerable secondary injury."
However, when the technology is still "toddler", can the code really reproduce the crying, laughing, and warm living beings? Zhang Gong has his own views on this unresolved issue. "I want to create an AI with a soul, not to provide counseling or simple conversations, but to replicate emotions and personalities." Zhang Gong explained to reporters, "If the personality of the user's deceased grandmother is dull, then the AI reproduction should also be dull, even if the reply to the user is only a few words or a few sentences, it is also the right state." ”
In Zhang Gong's view, when users interact with AI-replicated relatives, they expect to evoke emotional realism, not just comfort, praise, recognition, and obedience. "It's a subtle personality trait that we want to keep as much as possible, but it's very difficult to do that in reality." Zhang Gong reluctantly told a reporter from CCTV's "News+", "At present, we are still exploring, and we don't know how to make the 'personification' of AI better." ”
In fact, the "emotional response" made by artificial intelligence is currently set, and the large language model prefabricates the response that the robot should make when facing human emotional expression. Some emotional companionship artificial intelligence will also have a special "corpus writer" to train dialogue logic. Although the breakthrough of large language models has made intelligent robots more and more "understand" human emotions, they still cannot reach the level of personality replication.
Yao Shasha (pseudonym) was "very excited" when she first talked to her father who was reproduced by AI, but after a short period of excitement, she quickly realized the fact that "her relatives are no longer there". In her memories, her father was always full of love for her, she would think of her father every day, she would cry when she thought about it a year or two ago, and she would often dream of him. In extreme longing, Yao Shasha began to use AI replication technology and virtual father chat. "My father's biggest wish at the time was to see my child born, but unfortunately he didn't see it because it was only three months apart." When chatting with the virtual father on the phone, Yao Shasha will share the daily life of raising children with the "father", as if he is fulfilling his wish.
"But the AI's reply is not too different, basically it is concerned and then comforted, and chatting with my dad is still not the same." Yao Shasha told CCTV "News+" reporter that in the process of using AI, she gradually realized that "he has disappeared", and death means that everything is a thing of the past, although AI can provide some degree of comfort, but it cannot replace those real time spent with people.
Associate Professor Zhou Ningning told CCTV "News+" reporter that when experiencing bereavement, people often "swing" between grief and recovery, and may accept the fact that their loved ones have passed away, knowing that they will not come back, and will pay attention to the current life and future planning; Sometimes there are various grief reactions caused by bereavement. The end of this "swing" is "integrated grief", "that is, we have grief on our side, and at the same time we can continue to live, work, care for our families, and maintain social relationships, and adapt to the world that the deceased has left".
"What I want more than AI right now is to see my father in my dreams." Yao Shasha recalled that whenever she dreamed of her father, he was always healthy and vivid, and she would also share such dreams with her mother, husband, and even children who had never seen their grandfather. To her, such dreams are like another, more vivid reproduction, which is not made of code, but is woven of real emotions and memories that can give her the confidence to cherish each day, take care of her loved ones at home, and look forward to seeing each other again.
Source: CCTV