Whether you are browsing your social media feed, on the road using Google maps, or choosing the next Netflix series to binge on, you can bet that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is working in the background. But what impact does AI have on loneliness? Could it be the silver bullet we’ve been looking for to help combat loneliness in a time where care professionals are in short supply? Or is it more likely to cause social isolation and even increase feelings of loneliness?
In March 2021, the European Commission laid out its vision for a Digital Powerhouse: a human-centric, sustainable digital society to empower citizens and businesses in Europe by 2030. To guide the transition, the so-called ‘Digital Decade’ was launched. AI has a prominent place in the Digital Decade program, and there is no doubt that AI offers massive opportunities to achieve the European Commission’s vision of a digital society. Regions are hustling to establish positions of power in the digital world, with similar initiatives appearing globally, like the American AI Initiative and China’s New Generation AI Development Plan.
However, concerns persist about the ethics of AI, including issues like lack of transparency, algorithmic discrimination, privacy protection, and fears of AI taking over jobs.
This has fed the debate around the responsible use of AI and has also given rise to new legislation, such as the European Union’s AI Act. Two of these concerns are most relevant to the impact of AI on loneliness, namely: The ‘Digital Divide’; and the ‘Dehumanization’ of Society.
It is very encouraging to see that the vision set out by the European Commission places specific emphasis on creating a ‘human centric’ digital society. However, the reality is that certain groups are at risk of being excluded socially. For example, the Netherlands tops the table in Europe in terms of digital skills, with 83% of individuals possessing at least basic digital skills. However, this positive overall number masks the differences between different socio-economic groups and age categories, some of which have less access to technology and fewer opportunities to develop digital skills.
In fact, 94% of individuals with a high formal education have basic digital skills compared to only 68% of those with no or low formal education. Similarly, the age category of 65-74 years old lags far behind the 83% average2. And those 75 years old or above? They are not even measured as part of these targets! This phenomenon, whereby certain areas of society threaten to get left behind as the digital transformation progresses, is known as the ‘Digital Divide’. There is a high risk that this will lead to increased loneliness and feelings of exclusion.
Figure 2: Digital Skills & Level of Education Figure 3: Digital Skills & AgeSource dataset: isoc_sk_dskl_i21
The other risk associated with AI which can have a negative impact on loneliness is the ‘dehumanizing’ impact it may have on society. The introduction of AI in the workplace has raised concerns that companies view employees as mere productivity assets or data points, causing feelings of disengagement. Additionally, as AI handles more interactions in everyday life, it reduces human-to-human connections, making it increasingly difficult to ‘talk to a real person.’ It is quite likely that AI will replace the cashier at the supermarket and the receptionist when checking into a hotel. Social interaction is a basic human need, and connecting with other human beings improves health and decreases feelings of loneliness. Whilst AI systems are becoming more sophisticated as the technology develops, they still currently largely lack the empathy and nuanced judgement of humans.
It is not all doom & gloom! There are also many examples of how Artificial Intelligence is helping to combat loneliness. One example of this is the emergence of ‘companion robots,’ designed to provide companionship through social interaction. For example, the EMO Artificial Intelligence desktop pet is a small robot that can respond to questions, dance, sing, and play games with its owner. It uses facial recognition technology to recognize individual users and their preferences, and it can display a range of emotions in response to its owner’s emotions. The results of the use of social robots are promising. A study by the University of Glasgow found that people interacting with social robots disclosed more about themselves over time, and they reported both improvements in mood and a reduction in feelings of loneliness5.
Another way that Artificial Intelligence can help combat loneliness is by successfully encouraging people to seek out more human interactions, increasing connection and community feeling. A study from the University of North Carolina invited college students for one-on-one conversations with a virtual human, Ellie. Some students were randomly assigned to discuss the importance of high-quality social interactions with Ellie, who encouraged them to seek out moments of connection with strangers. Other study participants talked with Ellie about an unrelated topic. On the following day, the first group reported more interactions and higher-quality connections than the second group, and they also showed a faster response when conversing with a stranger. The findings show that the AI system was able to influence them to make it a priority to connect with others(6).
It is clear to see that AI offers both governments and relevant NGOs, such as Humanitas in the Netherlands, opportunities to tackle the social problem of loneliness. This does not necessarily mean the use of expensive robots, which might be a difficult solution to scale. Learning can be taken from how similar organizations have successfully used AI for interaction on a large scale. For example, the charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably), a UK based suicide prevention charity, used AI-enhanced chatbot QBOT to reduce queue times during the pandemic, when mental health issues were at an all-time high. This helped them to direct calls to those most in need, 24 hours a day. Within the first year, it handled more than 26,000 connected users and 1 million messages, proving that it is a solution which can be scaled (7).
Another way to reduce loneliness is by providing support to vulnerable groups who may otherwise feel excluded from an increasingly digital society, i.e., closing the Digital Divide. This could take the form of training courses or coaching sessions to help provide less digitally savvy groups with basic digital skills so they can access public services online and use online tools and channels to interact with others.
AI not only supports specific projects aimed at tackling loneliness but also increases the overall efficiency of organizations. For example, in NGOs, AI systems can match volunteers with participants across various projects, much like it matches job-seekers with job vacancies in the business world. This would save valuable time of workers and/ or volunteers, which could be freed up to spend connecting with people, providing the human touch.
To conclude, AI is here to stay, so we should embrace it by exploring how we can use it for the good of society. AI offers governments and NGOs many opportunities in tackling social problems such as loneliness and providing support to vulnerable people. The ethical dilemma of how and where to use AI is something which all organizations will need to ponder in the coming time. One thing is certain: we should always use AI to complement human interaction, never to fully replace it. In a world of AI, we need human involvement more than ever.
Note: This article was written by a human!
For more information about the activities of Humanitas, please visit: https://www.humanitas.nl/
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