AI Kids are Coming
How they will fail, or at least be no more than a novelty
AI robots are coming for our kids.
Why have a child who argues and prevents you from going to a movie with your wife when you can just have an AI kid that you can shut off and leave in the kitchen? Or even better, have it clean the kitchen while you have your date night.
This is the scenario Tom Bilyeu described in his discussion with Marc Andreessen. Tom put it forth as a likely scenario that would be attractive to some sizable group of people and I have no doubt that it will definitely be something that some do. But I don't believe that its failure will come from outside of the circle of people who choose something like this. It won't be religious fundamentalists who tear down these “abominations”. The owners themselves will in one way or another fail and abandon this novelty.
The reason it will fail is because these kids require no sacrifice.
As soon as Tom mentioned the ability to shut it off and go on a date with his wife, I knew what the problem would be. Human beings have a longing for that which is greater than themselves. We most often see that expressed in the motif of sacrifice.
As children and adolescents, we sacrifice parts of ourselves in order to fit in to a social group.
As adults, we sacrifice parts of ourselves in order to get married and join a union greater than the sum of its parts.
That sacrifice is taken to yet another level as we sacrifice more of ourselves in order to raise children. An AI kid that can be shut off requires zero sacrifice.
I believe the need for sacrifice will be at the heart of AI child failure because we need to have something to long for which is no different than something to love. It points us in a direction, and traveling in that direction is what motivates humans to move even further.
By definition, anything you are willing to sacrifice for is greater than yourself.
The more you are willing to sacrifice for something, the greater it is in comparison to you. The further it is from you, the greater the longing, the greater the love.
It's why poems about a moth to the flame stick around and make sense. The moth is as tiny and insignificant as we can imagine in comparison to the vast size, heat, and distance to the sun. The longing and the love are captured by the chasm which separates the moth from the sun. The moth's willingness to sacrifice its life in order to move towards it is no different than a parent's willingness to sacrifice themselves for their child.
It’s the same motif and reason that the Passion of Christ makes sense. It’s the greatest sacrifice: that of an innocent man who is tortured and murdered in front of his mother. And it is a massive chasm between one man and all of mankind (a moth compared to the sun).
An AI child will be interesting and fun as a novelty item. It may help around the house and be useful. But it will never be more than that unless we are willing to sacrifice ourselves for it.