Highlights:

  • The most efficient deployment of AI-backed human manipulation is going to be through conversational AI. Surprisingly, Large Language Model (LLM), a noteworthy AI technology, quickly reached a maturity level over the last year.
  • Advanced AI systems engaged in conversational interactions may evolve to recognize reactions that would be hard for salespeople to perceive.

Overview

Every time the possible hazards of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that can be posed to mankind are discussed, the control problem is often discussed. It is an assumed feasibility where AI-backed alternatives might turn way more advanced than humans making us succumb to them and lose control over everything. The threat is that any machine-generated super-intellect capability might outperform human tasks.

A recent study conducted by a large number of AI experts found that it will take at least 30 years for machines to achieve human-level intelligence (HLMI). It’s highly possible that existing AI tech can manipulate individual users. To worsen the matter further, corporates can implement this customized manipulation at a large scale to impact a more significant chunk of the population.

Manipulation Concerns 

The most efficient deployment of AI-backed human manipulation will be through conversational AI. Surprisingly, Large Language Model (LLM), a noteworthy AI technology, quickly reached a maturity level over the last year. It made interactive conversations between AI-driven software and users more feasible for manipulation. Although AI is used to propel social media campaigns, it is still lagging behind where the technology is marching. Such campaigning practices are harmful as they can polarize communities and lower the trust in legitimate institutions.

Personalized AI Conversations 

According to estimates, mankind will soon engage in personal discussions with AI-powered spokes representatives that may mimic real human conversation, invoke more trust in machines and interactive systems, and might be used by several companies for specific conversations. They might entice users to buy some product or compel them to believe a specific information set.

Later, the AI-backed systems will also develop the capability to observe and assess real-time emotions via camera feeds to process further human expressions, pupil motions, and other reactions to invoke emotional responses through conversation.

Meanwhile, it is estimated that AI-based applications might process vocal intonations, leading to alter feelings via conversation. This indicates that there’ll possibly be a virtual spokesperson to interact with users in an influencing conversation that can use tactics by understanding users’ responses every time they utter a word and determining what strategies to implement accordingly. This shows the preying manipulation that conversational AI can cause.

Advanced AI systems engaged in conversational interactions may evolve to recognize reactions that would be hard for salespeople to perceive. These systems can detect facial and micro-expressions that are too swift to be noticed by a human observer.

Speaking of AI’s potentially advanced capabilities, the system can also monitor finer complexion changes called blood flow patterns causing emotional changes that humans can’t detect. By tracking the motion and size of pupils, it can extract the emotions of that moment. If not regulated, the interaction with conversational AI will become more interfering and insightful than any human conversation representative.

Real-time AI applications

These interacting AI systems will be onboard with various terms such as AI chatbots, interactive marketing, conversational advertising, or virtual spokespeople. Regardless of the names they are known by, these applications pose misuse risks. They’ll mark users as targets to adapt to their real-time conversational pattern.

The relatively latest technology, LLM, forms the core of these advanced AI tactics. It keeps track of conversational flow and context and produces human-like dialog in real-time. What’s more concerning is that the AI system houses massive datasets with immense fact-based knowledge, human languages, and logical algorithms that can literally demonstrate human-like intelligence.

In combination with real-time voice generation, AI-based systems can trigger natural verbal interactions between machines and humans that could be rational, authoritative, and convincing.

Digital Human Emergence

The human-machine interaction might reach the level involving visually realistic simulations. Digital human is a kind of deployment of photorealistic human-like simulation that can act, sound, appear, and express so real that it can be almost confused for being real and natural.

If deployed as spokes representatives, such simulations can target users via webcam interaction or other video platforms. Moreover, they can also interact through 3D immersive technology such as mixed reality (MR).

Though this was not so feasible earlier, with advanced computing, AI modeling, and graphics engines, digital humans have become a viable future technology. Some software enterprises are already offering tools to enhance their capability.

Adaptive Conversations

Conversational AI can strategically custom voice pitch. The AI systems deployed by large digital platforms have a large number of data profiles that tell about a person’s views, interests, background, and other compiled details.

This goes to the degree of advancement where conversational AI sounds, looks, and acts similar to a human rep, and people engage with the platform that knows them more than any human could. This will help AI infer the tactics that are effective on users. The AI applications can rope users into the conversation, navigate them through all the services and solutions, and finally drive them to purchase, often without their intent.

The focus of tech regulators should be on controlling the exponential growth of AI-powered systems before their widespread implementation. Otherwise, it will be uncontrollable for an average human to mitigate and resist the manipulation of advanced conversational AI applications that can access users’ details, process feelings, and plot the tactics to target.

Concealing as Humans

The possible combination of LLMs and digital humans (photorealistic human-like simulations) can create a virtual spokesperson (VSP) that resembles humans in voice, appearance, and actions.

The research by Lancaster University in 2022 illustrated that users could not differentiate between AI-generated appearances and authentic human faces. They even conclude that the former seems more natural than real people’s faces.

This can probably lead to bizarre possibilities in the near future, where engagement with digital humans (disguised as authentic) will increase, resemblance will be so apt that distinction might be very challenging, and mankind may consider such AI-driven systems more reliable than authentic human representatives.

Conclusion 

In its various forms, AI emerged and continued as an assistive system. However, gradual evolution might surpass the natural human capabilities to annex overall or a major chunk of the technological domain.

Although the backend development is still controllable, the technology is feared to reach the level where its development, execution, and coordination might go autonomous and ultimately slip out of human control.