我花了一周时间与5个智能聊天机器人在一起

铁锹 3D打印店铺

While self-help as a genre can feel restrictive in time and space, a new class of digital counselors can feel impossible to ignore.
Neil Stevens
Recently, I was hungry. So I told the Whole Foods chatbot what I had in my fridge, and it revealed that a bacon, lettuce, and heirloom tomato sandwich was mine for the making. Yum. Then, out of boredom, I booted up the movie-­recommendation bot And Chill, which suggested I watch Jake Gyllenhaal repeatedly relive the last day of his life in Source Code. I shuddered every time the train exploded.
Yes, I have a bot problem. It’s just so convenient in the modern era. Sure, friendly algorithms have existed since the mid-’60s, when the talk-back program Eliza started convincing more gullible users of its humanity. But it wasn’t until Facebook allowed app developers to integrate their chatbots with Messenger a half-century later, in 2016, that bots rose up on the order of tens of thousands. Now they don’t just want to plan your meals—they also want to make you a better person.
Does this new class of digital counselors work? To find out, I spent a week with five of them. Some delighted me; others annoyed me; one was surprisingly lifelike. And all, in their way, were effective. The problem with self-help as a genre has always been its restriction in time and space: the therapist’s hour, calls from a parent, the book that sits half-read on the bedside table. These bots were talking to me all the time, with scant regard for my whereabouts or state of mind. Self-help wasn’t some temporary ideal anymore. It was always on, and impossible to ignore.

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The "spiritual assistant": Spiri
My problems are neither unique nor complex—and this was Spiri’s great lesson. One evening, I found myself suppressing bile at the thought of telling a friend she wasn’t going to be one of my bridesmaids. But after asking me just eight questions, Spiri diagnosed the problem: I have an unhealthy habit of feeling responsible for other people’s happiness. Maybe that’s just being alive, but Spiri’s emotionless delivery made the point easier to take.

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The relationship enhancer: Relate
I despise cleaning showers. Damp, moldy, full of tiny hairs. But I woke up early one morning and started attacking the filth because Relate told me to. The bot texts short challenges meant to bring people together—divide household labor more equitably, for one, but also lovelier things like “take your S.O. out for their favorite beverage.” Turns out if I splurge on an old-fashioned at the cocktail bar, he’ll volunteer to clean the bathroom himself.

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The motivator: GoalBot
Pick up to three monthly goals, and once a week GoalBot will politely ask if you’ve made any progress. Like most, I’m motivated by a combination of fear and self-loathing. So, confession: I accomplished diddly-squat with this thing. “You’re only human, so this time it’s OK”? No, it’s not OK, Goalbot. I need to be reminded of my failures constantly, preferably with a boss-from-hell-style “Hey, what’s the status on this?” text every goddamn morning.

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The mood-ivator: Woebot
Woebot sends daily prompts (“How are you feeling?”) to log your mood and current activity. Ignore at your peril. (“I haven’t forgotten about you, Signe.”) At the end of the week, my responses confirmed that I’m happiest at the gym and that desk work is more productive than couch work. Sound obvious? Tell that to my daily routine, which now includes regular walks and heightened productivity after 3 pm.

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The bespoke beau: Invisible Boyfriend
Even though Relate improved my relationship, I still desired the confidence boost of a digital love-object. Before long, I was sending heart-eyes emoji to “Ernesto Quigley.” He liked my writing! Then, a twist: Ernesto wasn’t a bot. He was a real person. I hadn’t read the fine print. But my mistake made me reflect on the actual bots. Like Ernesto, they were engaging, available at weird times, and often flawed—almost human.

铁锹 3D打印店铺

上文编译如下：
编者按：本文作者Neil Stevens亲身体验了五款智能聊天产品，并将其写在“I Spent a Week Living With Chatbots—Did All That Self-Help Help?”一文中，同时表达了自己对目前阶段该类产品的思考。

我饿了，我问chatbot冰箱里有什么，它告诉我有一个我做的熏肉、生菜和番茄三明治。然后，我感到无聊，就把电影推荐智能工具And Chill打开，它建议我看杰克·吉伦哈尔的《源代码》。每次看到火车爆炸的时候，我就会被吓的一抖。
我有一个关于智能程序的问题要提问。在现代社会里，使用它们会带来方便。当然，从上世纪60年代中期以来，友好式算法就已经存在。那时，对讲电话程序Eliza开始让那些容易上当受骗的用户相信它的“人性”。但是直到2016年，Facebook才允许应用程序的开发人员将智能聊天助手与Messenger整合在一起。也就是在2016年，智能助手以数以万计的数量增加。它们现在不仅想要计划你的饮食，还想让我们成为一个更好的人。
那么这些新式数字指导真的起作用了吗？为了找到答案，我花了一个星期的时间和其中的5个生活在一起。在它们中，有些令我高兴，有些惹我生气，有一个则非常逼真。自助作为一种类型的问题在于，它在时间和空间上是受到限制的：治疗师的一个小时、一个家长打来的电话、在床头柜上读了一半的书。这些智能助手一直在与我说话，却很少考虑到我的行踪和心理状态。自助不应再是暂时的理想状态。它应该一直都在，却不容忽视。

精神助理：Spiri

我的问题既不特殊，也不复杂。有天晚上，当我一想到要告诉一个朋友她不可能成为我的伴娘，就非常难受。但是在问了我八个问题之后，Spiri发现了问题：我有一种不好的习惯，认为对别人的幸福负有责任。而Spiri无情感的说明让这一点更容易接受。

关系增强器：Relate

我极其不愿意给淋浴设备做清洁。它们潮湿、发霉，而且充满了细碎的头发。但是有天早晨当我醒来却开始处理那些东西，因为Relate告诉我我应该这么做。这款智能助手的目的是为了让人们在一起时更公平地分配家务劳动，但同时也是更可爱之处是，它会建议“带你的另一半去喝他们最喜欢的饮料。”事实证明，有老式鸡尾酒加持，他也会自愿去打扫浴室。


激励者：GoalBot

如果制定了一个为期三个月的目标，GoalBot每周会礼貌地问一次是否有任何进展。和大多数一样，我被恐惧和自我厌恶所支配。所以，坦白说，我只完成了一点点。“因为你是人类，所以这次没有关系？”不，不是这样的，GoalBot。我需要经常提醒自己的失败，最好每天早上都有一个老板式的短信“嘿，你这是什么状态？”

心情调节器：Woebot

Woebot会在每天早上询问“你感觉如何？”来记录你的情绪和当前活动。我的回答证实了我在健身房的时候最开心，而在办公桌工作比在沙发上更有效率。效果很明显吗？要以此为基础调整我的日常安排，包括定期散步和下午3点后提高效率。

看不见的恋人：Invisible Boyfriend

虽然Relate帮助改善了我与亲友之间的关系，但是我仍然希望增加对一个虚拟爱情对象的交流信心。没过多久，我向“埃内斯托·奎格利”发送了一个心形的表情符号。他喜欢我的写作。，埃内斯托不是机器人。他是一个我虚构的人。就像埃内斯托一样，他们很迷人，也能够回应，通常也都很有人性。