The Personality of Machines: Embracing Anthropomorphism in AI
The Personality of Machines: Embracing Anthropomorphism in AI
Hello AI, my old friend? Blurring lines between man and machine
How can we encourage people to use something new? One way is to take an interaction that they are already familiar with and replicate it in a new context. The new product should be designed in a way that feels familiar so that users can feel comfortable with it. Successful designs must balance between offering new solutions and maintaining familiarity. Let's explore why and how this approach works.
People do not change much. Especially if you compare human evolution with the evolution of the technology that the same humans use every day. We are almost indistinguishable from people living in the middle ages, but we are wielding smartphones instead of swords. And even if we limit the evolution to the past few years, the technology has changed dramatically. But people, of course, have not. 10 usability heuristics by Jakob Nielsen from 1994 are still very valid in 2024. So, the safe way is not to wander too far from familiar grounds of traditional user interface elements. Getting people familiar with new interaction patterns is hard, and when new products overshoot with innovations, they often fail.
When a new technology takes a familiar and understandable shape, people tend to be more comfortable with it. Skeuomorphism is a term that describes taking something known from a physical world and creating its digital equivalent. It utilizes the principle of affordance - the average human has seen and used many buttons, so they anticipate that button-shaped digital objects can be pushed. The same principle was used when designers created digital equivalents of computer desktop, files, folders, or thrash can in early personal computers’ first graphical user interfaces. People can easily recognize what these digital images on the screen are used for because they know their real counterparts from the world around them. This familiarity dramatically helps with the adoption of the new technology.
Designers can help users adapt to new technologies by retaining most of the familiar interaction patterns and only changing some elements or contexts. The primary goal is to strike a balance between innovation and familiarity in interface design and to make the transition innovative, but not too disruptive.
But how do we utilize the principles of skeuomorphism in human-AI interactions? Those interactions are typically conversational - there's no physical button, thrash can, or folder we can use to create its digital equivalent. We need to look at how people communicate with each other and try to replicate the key principles in the conversations with AI. We need to make artificial intelligence tools more human. To anthropomorphize it. Anthropomorphism means the attribution of human traits to non-human entities. People have been doing this for ages, and apparently, it worked - think of any religion or mythology. The concept of anthropomorphism is not just a random creative idea but a strategic tool to enhance user interactions and experience. By infusing AI with human-like characteristics, we can bridge the gap between digital and human interactions, making technology more approachable, intuitive, and effective. Let's look at some strategies we can use in today's AI chat interface use cases.
Tone of conversation
Siri or Alexa are capable assistants to a certain extent, but can you really talk with them? To hold a proper, enjoyable conversation? Not really. This changed with the advent of the widespread use of modern Large Language Models (LLMs), which can make the conversation sound almost indistinguishable from a real person. And some tools like Replika do such a good job that some people are making friends with the AI avatars.
Voice modulation
Speaking of Siri, do you remember her first version? Or basically any other computer-generated voice? They all sounded flat and artificial. That’s why voice modulation in AI systems represents a significant step in humanizing technology. By utilizing voice modulation techniques, AI can deliver responses in various tones and nuances that closely mimic human speech patterns. This capability is particularly impactful in voice assistants, where the subtleties of tone can convey empathy, enthusiasm, or concern, mirroring human emotions. For instance, a voice assistant that can soothingly respond to a user's stressful situation or energetically share good news adds a new dimension to the interaction, making the experience feel more engaging and personal.
Role-playing
People typically specialize in their lives and careers. They're becoming doctors, engineers, architects, or any other imaginable profession. They play a role. And this role tells others what to expect from them. You don't go to a blacksmith to fix your teeth (well, at least not anymore). When you hurt yourself, you go to see the doctor - and expect him to do reasonably well based on the general perception of his role. The very same principle can be applied to AI tools to set expectations and build trust with the users. Assign AI a role it should play and fine-tune its tone of voice to sound accordingly. People are already using this strategy today, asking general-purpose AI chatbots like ChatGPT to assume a specific role and act like, e.g., a senior project manager when creating a project plan. Or Meta, with their try to create chatbots based on celebrities - so the users might interact with AI representations of someone they already know from the real world.
Learning and adaptation
When you currently use the ChatGPT, you start every conversation with a blank slate. The tool doesn't remember anything from the previous conversations. This can be particularly frustrating if you use it often for similar tasks and need to write the full instructions every single time. A significant step forward is an AI tool that can learn from user interactions and adapt over time, much like a human would in a similar role. This creates a sense of growth and development in the AI's behavior and makes the tool so much more usable in everyday tasks.
The future of anthropomorphic AI
Embracing anthropomorphism in AI represents a significant step towards human-centric technology. By making AI more humane, relatable, and engaging, we can utilize its potential to enhance people's daily lives, making interactions with technology more natural and enjoyable. Looking ahead, I believe the future of anthropomorphic AI is promising. We can expect more sophisticated and nuanced human-like interactions as AI technology advances. This evolution will make technology more user-friendly and open up new possibilities for AI applications in various fields, from education to entertainment and beyond.