Commentators observe how | people and digital virtual people look at each other

The digital virtual person "Cui Xiaopan" won the 2021 Vanke Outstanding Newcomer Award. The news has brought the digital virtual person back to the spotlight.

"Cui Xiaopan" has a good image of a young woman. She is responsible for quickly monitoring work abnormalities and promoting timely handling of work. Chuangsheng "Cui Xiaopan" was originally intended to give artificial intelligence algorithms an anthropomorphic identity and a warmer way of communication. Especially in the field of live e-commerce, virtual characters such as "Cui Xiaopan" have been able to engage in anchor work like real people. In the face of this new thing that is rapidly driven by commercial value and capital power, people are full of expectations and worries. Professionals pointed out that the risk of "changing faces" brought about by the rapid development of artificial intelligence has once aroused people's vigilance, and the problem of fake substitution of virtual people to character archetypes may be more prominent.

In fact, whenever a digital technology has a disruptive impact, people can't help but ask, will people be replaced? When digital virtual people frequently go out of the circle, this worry or confusion reappears – to what extent can virtual people replace real people? Will prejudice and malice be "fed back" to mankind?

Throughout the history of human scientific and technological innovation, from imitating nature to imitating self, human beings' ability to self-cognition and self-construction has been continuously improved. As a new thing, digital virtual people are only a digital extension of human intelligence, and they should not be denied in themselves. The real concern should be focused on the people who created and used this new thing. In other words, how to use digital virtual people well is the problem we should really care about. Remember the warning of the famous British physicist Stephen Hawking about artificial intelligence? He is actually reminding that human beings should be prepared to use artificial intelligence to avoid potential dangers so that it will not become a "new way for the minority to oppress the majority."

These questions lead reflection to the focus on the person himself. Because, it is the needs of people that promote the development of digital virtual people. A digital virtual person is a mirror of a person. In essence, the development of virtualized subjects such as digital virtual people will change the form of labor and life. In doing so, we should prevent the alienation of people. That is to say, once the development of digital virtual people deviates from the exploration and satisfaction of people's intrinsic value, it is possible to go to the opposite side of human nature. For example, people's uniqueness and creativity will be lost, people will indulge in the virtual world, and society's digital trust and security will be weakened.

"Our future is a competition between the growing power of science and technology and the wisdom of human use of technology." In this competition, the virtual world and the real world are gradually converging. For people and digital virtual people, how to go from being together to looking at each other is testing human intelligence. But in any case, it is the general direction and trend to coordinate and adapt technological development with social management and ethics.

Article/Guangzhou Daily commentator Yang Bo

Photo: Guangzhou Daily New Flower City reporter Mo Weinong

Guangzhou Daily New Flower City Editor Hu Jun