Can artificial intelligence help cure loneliness? | Nation

By Stephen Beech via SWNS

Robot technology could help cure loneliness, say scientists.

State of the art artificial intelligence (AI) is capable of offering “companionship” to lonely people, according to a leading British robotics expert.

Tony Prescott, a professor of cognitive robotics at the University of Sheffield, says that “relationships with AIs could support people” through forms of social interaction.

Loneliness has been found to seriously damage health and well-being.

Up to four million people in the UK are experiencing chronic loneliness, suggests a recent report.

And, amid a worldwide epidemic of feeling alone, more than a third of American adults – and 61 percent of young people – experience serious loneliness, according to a Harvard University study.

But Prescott makes a case that advances in AI technology could offer a partial solution.

He says in his new book ‘The Psychology of Artificial Intelligence’ that people can spiral into loneliness, becoming increasingly disconnected as their confidence plummets.

But Prescott says that AI might help people to “break the cycle” by giving them a way to practice and improve their social skills.

Loneliness – also known as “social disconnection” – is more harmful to human health than obesity, according to research published last year.

It can increase the risk of premature death by 26 percent and is associated with a greater risk of a heart attack or stroke as well as dementia, depression and anxiety.

But Prescott said: “In an age when many people describe their lives as lonely, there may be value in having AI companionship as a form of reciprocal social interaction that is stimulating and personalized.

“Human loneliness is often characterized by a downward spiral in which isolation leads to lower self-esteem which discourages further interaction with people.

“There may be ways in which AI companionship could help break this cycle by scaffolding feelings of self-worth and helping maintain or improve social skills.

“If so, relationships with AIs could support people to find companionship with both human and artificial others.”

But Prescott, who is also co-founder of the Sheffield Robotics research hub, warns that the approach is not without risk as it could be “designed to encourage users to interact for longer and longer periods and to keep them coming back”.

The leading expert on the relationship between the human brain and AI suggests regulation may be needed.

In The Psychology of Artificial Intelligence, Prescott explores the nature of the human mind and its cognitive processes and compares and contrasts it with the way AI is developing.

Prescott, who holds a PhD in Machine Learning and is also a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, said: “As psychology and AI proceed, this partnership should unlock further insights into both natural and artificial intelligence.”

He added: “This could help answer some key questions about what it means to be human and for humans to live alongside AI.”