I recently read articles from Sherry Turkle about artificial intelligence (hereafter refers to “the AI”). One of them describes children’s reactions towards their just-dead Tamagotchi models. The author, however, says she will unhesitatingly reset her own Tamagotchi once it has been dead, comparing to children’s treating the little pet robots as real ones and not willing to restart them.
I a bit find Sherry cold-blooded, although I myself am not sensitive to any inventions related to the AI. I am sure that the grown-ups are also emotional when living and communicating with computers.
A recent article in New Zealand Herald tells stories about a couple who firstly talked to each other on Google Translation. The lady speaks English which the French gentleman knows a little about, and thus he sent emails to her in English with the help of Google Translate. As you could imagine there were a lot of maddening moments caused by the universally known poor linguistic tool. But they had believed in each other and they finally got married.
It is a little bit sarcastic because the trust between these two grown-up people bases on understanding how untrustworthy the online service is, and, technically speaking, Google Translate does not belong to the AI any more. Nevertheless, the virtual affects the reality. When the lady immediately chose to believe her man who said he actually meant “I want see you again” instead of “I don’t think I see you again” which he had written in the e-mail with the “help” of Google Translate, she was emotional enough.
Another example, a better one, is the explanation of why my wife once found it impossible to stop playing the Sims when she was in university. She describes the game as an ideal world with no boundary or restriction which exists in the real world. From her words, I am pretty confirmed that she understands it is not reality, and I am pretty shocked by her saying “I could go hooking up several guys in a same time and I always succeeded”.
Source:
Mac McClelland: We fell in love on Google Translate. (18 March 2015). New Zealand Herald. Retrieved from: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11419296
Can Google break the computer language barrier? (19 December 2010). The Guardian. Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/dec/19/google-translate-computers-languages
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