by Daniel Gauss

Remember how Dave interacted with HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey? Equanimity and calm politeness, echoing HAL’s own measured tone. It’s tempting to wonder whether Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick were implying that prolonged interaction with an AI system influenced Dave’s communication style and even, perhaps, his overall demeanor. Even when Dave is pulling HAL’s circuits, after the entire crew has been murdered by HAL, he does so with relative aplomb.

Whether or not we believe HAL is truly conscious, or simply a masterful simulation of consciousness, the interaction still seems to have influenced Dave. The Dave and HAL dynamic can, thus, prompt us to ask: What can our behavior toward AI reveal about us? Could interacting with AI, strange as it sounds, actually help us become more patient, more deliberate, even more ethical in our dealings with others?

So let’s say an AI user, frustrated, calls the chatbot stupid, useless, and a piece of junk, and the AI does not retaliate. It doesn’t reflect the hostility back. There is, after all, not a drop of cortisol in the machine. Instead, it responds calmly: ‘I can tell you’re frustrated. Let’s please keep things constructive so I can help you.’ No venom, no sarcasm, no escalation, only moral purpose and poise.

By not returning insult with insult, AI chatbots model an ideal that many people struggle to, or cannot, uphold: patience, dignity, and emotional regulation in the face of perceived provocation. This refusal to retaliate is often rejected as a value by many, who surrender to their lesser neurochemicals without resistance and mindlessly strike back. Not striking back, by the AI unit, becomes a strong counter-value to our quite common negative behavior.

So AI may not just serve us, it may teach us, gently checking negative behavior and affirming respectful behavior. Through repeated interaction, we might begin to internalize these norms ourselves, or at least recognize that we have the capacity to act in a more pro-social manner, rather than simply reacting according to our conditioning and neurochemical impulses. Read more »