Thanks to social media, we already live dual lives and we’re en route to making it more real. New technology will soon let you be available at two different places simultaneously, but might also make you mentally lazy.
And all of this will happen in the next year itself. Digital communications giant Ericsson has announced its set of prediction for the year 2019 and evidently, humans are likely to become more dependent on technology. These predictions are based on a set of surveys conducted by the company.
Apart from this, virtual assistants will get smarter and soon be able to perceive your mood, thus, catering differently as per your temper.
Virtual Assistants Will Predict Your Mood,
Ericsson predicts the rise of smart devices which will be aware – thus called “awareables”. 42% of the respondents believe that virtual assistants will soon be intelligent enough to perceive your mood much better than friends and family. This data will, in turn, be utilized in suggesting you suitable products to buy. 41% of respondents also felt that two smart assistants will battle it out if they have different opinions, which will surely be fascinating even if they are not as hilarious as epic rap battles.
Boring tasks like keeping track of bills, grocery refills, small breakdowns will be taken care of these smart assistants. Further, technologies like AR and VR will also allow users to learn elaborate skills through interactive methods.
Can AI Save The World?
These smart assistants will also allow users to be more aware of the carbon footprint (the impact of their lifestyle on the environment) by keeping track of their consumption. This will help bring down wastage of vital resources like water and electricity and in turn, reduce pollution.
If you’ve seen the movie Surrogates, you might be excited (or disturbed) to learn that we’re perhaps headed towards a generation when out digital self will be as powerful as our real self. Ericsson, in this report, anticipates that with the rise of AR and VR technologies, humans will prefer staying in the virtual world and 48% feel that users would want to appear exactly the same as their real self.
But, You Might Get Mentally Obese
However, these advancements will also have their perils and Ericsson warns that users might suffer from something called “mental obesity” – and no, your brain will not grow fatter (hopefully). The report suggests that as a byproduct of all the automation, the human brain might not be capable of making basic decisions very well and could become lazy.
Lastly, there’s the obvious fear of constantly being tracked by virtual assistants and there will be blanket terms and conditions, which smart assistants might force users to agree to.
While the harmony between real and artificial intelligence will increase, the fear of being tracked, and manipulated is something that cannot be overlooked. However, one must take heed of the fact that these speculations are based on user surveys and cannot be treated absolutely as God’s words.
