AI, Intimacy, and Transcendence

For decades, the tech industry has distilled rich, real-world experiences into quantifiable data—clicks, views, and time spent—which are then neatly categorized into rows and columns so that interactions can be used for profit. This approach has undoubtedly boosted the economy but at the cost of stripping the context and meaning from our online behaviors. Machines can store every transaction, yet they fail to capture the 'why' behind our actions. Why choose a song? Sometimes it's about mood or company, or even to block out an earworm from a morning commute. These nuances matter because they represent the true value of our experiences.

Context is everything—whom you're with, where you're going, and why. Machines currently lack the ability to understand this context, but generative AI, especially modern large language models, hold the promise of changing this limitation. These models can process vast amounts of unstructured data, potentially capturing some semblance of the human context embedded within. How effectively they can recreate or understand our context remains to be seen, but the potential is certainly profound.

Now, I know what you're thinking. "Dave, these AI systems would have to know a lot about us—do we really want some machine poking around in our private lives?" And I get it, I do. The idea of an AI that knows me intimately—perhaps even better than my friends & family—is unnerving.

But hear me out. What if, instead of just trying to sell us more stuff or keep us glued to our screens, these AI systems actually helped us understand ourselves better? What if they could nudge us towards being more mindful, more self-aware, more in tune with what really matters to us? What if AI could help us understand ourselves and our world in new and profound ways. What if AI didn’t just cater to our immediate desires, but challenged us to grow and develop as individuals and as a society.

I’m not proposing that this is easy technology to create nor that tech companies will be financially incentivized to create it. But I am proposing that it might be possible. It might be possible for technology to offer a deeper, more intimate understanding of ourselves and our experiences—all through a new capability to absorb and understand the complex context of our lives.