If I only knew then, what I know now…” It is a lament the young do not understand, for they do not know that they do not know. But as time passes — sometimes in days, sometimes in years — many people have wanted to go back and counsel, scold and guide themselves to better decisions. Some may wish to go back only a day, and caution their past selves against that fifth drink, or the late-night binge eating.
For others, regrets can span years and even a lifetime. It may be that, after slaving away at a job for decades, someone may want to go back and quit, when time and opportunity allowed them to. Now, AI is trying to allow people to talk to younger versions of themselves.
According to a report in The Guardian, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have built an AI-powered chatbot that simulates a user’s older self and dishes out advice. The profile picture is aged — wrinkles, grey hair and perhaps a bit of wisdom in the eyes — to make the faux time travel feel more authentic.
It gives career advice, tells people to cherish their parents, and shares any number of other pearls of wisdom. If the advice sounds a little corny, users have only themselves to blame — the chatbot is based on their behaviour and inputs. Unfortunately, though, it’s unlikely to alter the course of lives.
The problem with the “I wish I’d known then what I know now” aspiration is, as Terry Pratchett pointed out, “when you got older you found out that you wasn’t you then. You then was a twerp.” It takes a life filled with regrets and what-ifs to gain the wisdom to give advice. Ignoring the advice of elders is what being young is often about. A chatbot won’t change that. If kids were so keen on perspective, they would just listen to their parents.
Source: Indian Express, 6/06/24
