summary: AI-generated messages can make recipients feel more heard than responses from untrained humans. This research demonstrates AI's superior ability to detect and respond to human emotions, potentially providing better emotional support.
However, the study also found that when recipients know that a message is coming from an AI, they may feel unheard, highlighting the bias against empathy generated by AI. It has become. As AI becomes increasingly integrated into daily life, this study highlights the importance of understanding and leveraging AI to effectively meet human psychological needs.
Important facts:
- AI-generated responses were initially more effective at making recipients feel heard than responses from untrained humans.
- When participants realized that their responses were generated by AI, they felt unheard, indicating bias against AI in emotional contexts.
- This research suggests that AI can provide disciplined emotional support, potentially becoming a valuable tool to enhance human interaction and empathy.
sauce: University of Southern California
New research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Messages generated by AI make recipients feel more heard than messages generated by untrained humans, and AI is better able to detect emotions than these individuals. I discovered that. However, once recipients learned the message was from her AI, they reported feeling like they couldn't hear the other person's voice.
As AI becomes more prevalent in daily life, it becomes more important to understand its potential and limitations for meeting human psychological needs. As empathic connection diminishes in a fast-paced world, many people are finding that the human need to feel heard and acknowledged is increasingly unmet.
Research conducted by Yidan ying, Nan Jia, and Cheryl J. Wakslak at the USC Marshall School of Business shows that AI, which lacks human consciousness and emotional experience, can make people feel heard and understood. We are tackling the extremely important question of whether it is possible to do so.
“A big part of our motivation was to see if AI could actually help people feel heard, given the prevalence of loneliness,” said Lloyd, lead author of the paper.・Edan Yin, a postdoctoral researcher at the Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Research, said: USC Marshall.
The research team's findings not only highlight the potential of AI to enhance human understanding and communication abilities, but also raise important conceptual questions about what it means to be heard and how we can further human flourishing. It also raises practical questions about how to best leverage the strengths of AI to support
The experiment and subsequent follow-up study found that “AI showed increased potential to provide emotional support compared to untrained human counterparts, but decreased ratings of the AI's response.” , has proven to be a key challenge in effectively deploying AI capabilities,” said Nan Jia. , Associate Professor of Strategic Management.
A research team at USC Marshall investigated people's feelings about being listened to, as well as other related perceptions and emotions, after receiving a response from an AI or a human.
The studies varied in both the actual source of the message and the ostensible source of the message. The participant received a message that was actually generated by an AI or a human responder, along with the information that it was AI or human generated.
“What we found is that both the actual source of the message and the presumed source of the message played a role,” said Cheryl Wakslak, associate professor of management and organizations at USC Marshall College. says Mr.
“We found that people felt more heard when they received messages from an AI than from a human, but once they believed the message was coming from an AI, they felt less heard. I no longer feel cared for.”
AI bias
Yin said their study “fundamentally uncovered bias against AI.” It's convenient, but they don't like it. ”
Wakslak added that perceptions about AI are bound to change. “Of course, these effects can change over time, but one of the interesting things we found is that the magnitudes of the two observed effects were quite similar. That's it.
Although there is a positive effect of receiving an AI message, there is a similar degree of response bias when the message is identified as coming from an AI, and the two effects essentially cancel each other out. ”
Additionally, individuals report an “uncanny valley” response, or a feeling of anxiety when they perceive an empathic response to originate from an AI, and the complex emotional landscape navigated by AI-human interactions. I highlighted it.
The research study also asked participants about their general tolerance for AI, which may have mitigated some of the effects, Wakslak explained.
“People with more positive feelings toward AI show less of a reaction penalty. This is interesting because over time, people develop more positive attitudes toward AI. ” She posed.
“We don’t know that yet… but it will be interesting to see how this plays out as people become more familiar and experienced with AI.”
AI provides better emotional support
This study revealed important nuances. AI-generated responses are associated with increased hope and reduced distress, indicating a positive emotional impact on recipients. AI also showed a more disciplined approach than humans when providing emotional support and refrained from overwhelmingly practical suggestions.
Yin explained: “Ironically, the AI was better at using emotional support strategies that previous research has shown to be empathic and validating.
“Humans could potentially learn from AI, because when someone we care about is complaining about something, we often want to provide that validation, but not effectively. Because I don’t know how to do that.”
Rather than AI replacing humans, the study points out the different benefits of AI and human counterparts. This advanced technology has become a valuable tool that allows humans to use her AI to better understand each other, provide emotional support, and learn how to respond in ways that demonstrate understanding and validation. There is a possibility that
Overall, the findings of this paper have important implications for integrating AI into more social contexts. Harnessing the capabilities of AI could provide cheap and scalable solutions for social support, especially for people who do not have access to individuals who can provide such support.
However, as the researchers point out, their findings suggest that to maximize the benefits of AI and reduce negative reactions, we need to consider how AI is presented and perceived. This suggests that careful consideration is important.
About this AI and empathy research news
author: Idan Inn
sauce: University of Southern California
contact: Idan Yin – USC
image: Image credited to Neuroscience News
Original research: Closed access.
“AI helps people feel heard, and AI labels reduce this effect.” (Yidan ying et al.) PNAS
abstract
AI helps people feel heard, and AI labels reduce this impact
People want to feel heard, to feel understood, acknowledged, and valued. Can AI fulfill the deep human function of making others feel heard?
Our research addresses two fundamental questions. The other question is, can the AI generate a response that makes the human recipient feel heard? How do you react?
We conducted experiments and follow-up studies to disentangle the effects of a message's actual and presumed origin.
We found that AI-generated messages make recipients feel heard more than human-generated messages, and AI is better at detecting emotions. However, once recipients realized that the message came from an AI (rather than a human), they felt less heard.
Finally, in a follow-up study where responses were evaluated by third-party raters, AI was found to be an important factor compared to humans in ensuring that individuals are heard while avoiding overly practical suggestions. I found that you showed great discipline in providing some emotional support. It may not be very effective in achieving this goal.
Our research highlights the potential and limitations of AI in meeting human psychological needs.
While these findings demonstrate the enhanced ability of AI to provide emotional support, they also demonstrate that the devaluation of AI responses is a key challenge to effectively leveraging AI capabilities. It suggests that it will happen.
