An artificial intelligence (AI) expert has made a bold claim, saying that virtual children that play with you, cuddle you, and even look like you will become commonplace in 50 years and could even help combat overpopulation in the near future.
According to a report by the Daily Mail, these computer-generated children will only exist in the immersive digital world known as the "metaverse," which can be accessed using virtual reality technology such as a headset to make a user feel as if they are face-to-face with the offspring.
Catriona Campbell, one of the leading authorities on AI and emerging technologies in the U.K., said that they would cost nothing to bring up, as they will require minimal resources. Campbell made the argument in her new book, AI by Design: A Plan For Living With Artificial Intelligence, saying that concerns about overpopulation will prompt society to embrace digital kids.
What is the Tamagotchi generation?
Campbell describes them as the "Tamagotchi generation," a reference to the handheld digital pets that became wildly popular in the late 1990s and the 2000s among Western youngsters. Campbell wrote in her book that virtual children may seem like a giant leap from where we are now, but within 50 years, technology will have advanced to such an extent that babies which exist in the metaverse are indistinct from those in the real world.
Campbell added that as the metaverse evolves, she can see virtual children becoming an accepted and fully embraced part of society in much of the developed world. The metaverse has some famous fans, with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg being a leading voice on the concept, according to the Guardian.
The metaverse is seen as the future of the internet and would blur the lines between the digital world and the physical one. The term, coined in the 1992 dystopian novel "Snow Crash," describes immersive, shared spaces accessed across different platforms.
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AI children a technological game-changer
Campbell believes that people will one day be able to use high-tech gloves that can deliver tactile feedback to replicate physical sensations. This would allow people to cuddle, feed, and play with their digital children as though they were real offspring.
Campbell noted that we are already well on our way to creating the Tamagotchi generation, which, for all intents and purposes, will be "real" to their parents in the future. Campbell said that AI children would become widely available for a relatively small monthly fee because consumer demand is there, which she thinks it will be.
Campbell believes this development, should it indeed take place, is a technological game-changer which, if managed correctly, could help society solve some of today's most pressing issues, including overpopulation, according to The Next Web.
