The Computational and Aesthetic Foundations of Artificial Empathy

Authors

  • Megha Bhushan Srivastava Stanford University

Abstract

Many pioneers in technology, from Elon Musk to Bill Gates, have expressed caution regarding the advance of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Socially, a "doomsday" scenario of AI dominating humanity is entrenched in popular culture, ranging from movies to political worries of the role of AI in military organizations. However, this fear is based on an assumption that intelligence is the only facet of the human experience that researchers seek to replicate. The AI agents portrayed as harmful are those that can understand their surroundings, store large amounts of data, possess advanced knowledge, and have the capability to coordinate, kill, and destroy far beyond humans. On the other hand, these portrayals of AI do not show artificial empathy, compassion, and love that even approach the same level of humans. In this paper, I plan to investigate the scientific and computational foundations of artificial empathy, and the aesthetic methods of making it appear genuine. Using an interdisciplinary approach, I aim to show that artificial empathy is not only possible, but also necessary for a positive future for artificial intelligence.

Author Biography

  • Megha Bhushan Srivastava, Stanford University
    Megha Srivastava in a junior at Stanford University studying computer science. She is particularly interested in computational neuroscience, and how advances in computing are shaping our way of understanding how humans process information. She has done research both with neural networks for vision processing and in computational cryptography, and is excited to see the many ways artificial intelligence will shape our future.

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Published

2016-12-26

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 1 (2016)

Section

Research Articles

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