023 – The Impact of AI on Ikigai With Dr. Soenke Ziesche

How the increasing presence of AI influence our overall well-being?

Technology plays a pivotal role in improving our lives. However, as we embrace new technologies, it is crucial to acknowledge the potential risks they entail.

In this episode of the Ikigai Podcast, Nick and his guest, Dr. Soenke Ziesche, discuss the probable impact of technology on our daily lives and how that can influence ikigai.

Finding purpose amidst difficult times

"Even if we survive and we don't suffer, then there's still something missing. This goes back to the ikigai point, it's not sufficient to be alive and not to suffer, if we don't have a purpose in life.

That's why I came up with the term i-risk, which I believe also has to be considered, because ikigai is a critical ability for various reasons." - Soenke Ziesche

Podcast highlights:

• Extended Reality. At 1:59, Soenke talks about the term XR and a few other enhanced realities, and how these can possibly impact our lives in the years to come.
• "How did you stumble upon ikigai?" Soenke discusses with Nick the reason why he studied the ikigai concept in relation to AI and XR at 4:23
• AI can possibly eliminate some ikigai sources. Nick asks Soenke at 10:23 about the probability of AI disrupting ikigai activities in the future.
• "The Risks". At 14:18, Soenke touched on the two categories of risks that have been defined by experts, and his own term that he came up with which is the "i-risk".
• The unknown ikigai activities of the future. Nick and Soenke talk about new possible opportunities to experience ikigai at 17:23.
  
• Ethical guidelines. Soenke talks about his point that ikigai research should be a critical component for framing ethical guidelines in AI at 27:59.
• Ikigai optimization. Nick and Soenke discuss the four areas where AI will be able to assist us with ikigai optimization at 32:17.
• Ikigai designer. At 38:04, Soenke talks about his idea of ikigai designer, and how it can probably be a future profession.
• Ikigai and AI safety. At 42:39, Soenke talks about the AI value alignment problem, and how ikigai might help in aligning AI values to human values.
• AI welfare. Soenke discusses the welfare of potential future sentient beings at 45:36.
• "What is your ikigai?". At 53:28, Soenke explains to Nick what his ikigai is.

Dr. Soenke Ziesche

Definition of XR

Soenke’s area of research and expertise is artificial intelligence (AI), the intelligence demonstrated by machines. In his paper, he also mentions extended reality (XR), an umbrella term collectively referencing several different types of enhanced reality:

• Augmented reality (AR) - objects in the real world that are enhanced by computer-generated information.
• Virtual reality (VR) - a simulated experience, it could be similar to the real world or completely different.
• Mixed reality (MR) - a blend of physical and digital worlds.

Soenke believes that it is possible for these types of enhanced reality to become increasingly important over the next 10 to 20 years. There has been much progress with these technologies for the past few decades and it’s more likely that this will continue. People make use of technologies for many opportunities and positive outcomes, but he thinks that it’s also important to look at the risks that these technologies may cause.

How did you stumble upon ikigai?

Soenke’s Japanese wife exposed him to the word ikigai. He is really interested in the concept and believes that it plays a vital role in having a fulfilling life in a potentially different world caused by all these advancements in technology.

While he was closely monitoring the developments of AI and XR, he felt that there was something missing, and worried about a possible lack of fulfilling activities in the future; however, he thinks that associating ikigai with these technologies can be the solution.

AI to likely eliminate ikigai resources

Soenke conducted investigations into time-use research, which allows researchers to check how much time people spend on certain activities. Typically, time can be categorised in four different ways:

1. Necessary time - the time required to maintain one’s self
2. Contracted time - the time allocated to work or study
3. Committed time - the time spent with family or at home
4. Free time - remaining time of the day after the three other types were subtracted

He thinks that the time that people spend on certain activities is more likely to change in the future; because of the new technologies being introduced, people might end up having more free time and less contracted and committed time. This led him to conclude that accumulating more free time may decrease or even eliminate activities people consider as ikigai.

The risks

Two categories of risk have previously been identified in association with AI and XR:

• Existential risk (X-risk), invented by the philosopher Nick Bostrom, which refers to existential risks that could lead to the extinction of life entirely.
• Suffering risk (S-risk), a term proposed by The Foundational Research Institute, which refers to the likelihood that people will survive but experience increased suffering.

Soenke proposed a third category, ikigai risk (i-risk), that refers to the possibility of losing ikigai amidst all these technological advancements.

Ever since X-risk and S-risk were proposed, people have looked for ways to avoid or minimize them. However, Soenke feels that i-risk addresses something that has been missing -- because even if people survive and avoid suffering, there might still be something missing. For him, it’s not sufficient to be alive and not to suffer if people don’t have a purpose in life.

The unknown ikigai activities of the future

There is much research being done on how to ensure if AI will be human-friendly. This is a whole different field that can be relevant to ikigai. AI is ikigai-friendly in the sense that it can gather data that can be used to support humans in finding ikigai and pursuing something which they haven’t thought about. Soenke also believes that AI could positively manipulate people to do things that benefit their environment.

Because technologies are advancing and improving, they are increasingly likely to fundamentally change people’s lives. For example, there will likely be developments that enhance people’s physical and mental capabilities. He thinks that if people enhance their selves, it may be possible for them to achieve bliss: technologies that impact people’s brains and emotions may lead to the eradication of depression. However, this is also a concern for Soenke because he worries that if people only experience happiness, their lives will lack balance -- which goes back to the importance of having ikigai.

“If we are forever blissful and happy, we might get sick of it. It might become a source of suffering in and of itself.” - Nicholas Kemp

Ethical guidelines

AI ethics is a system of moral principles and techniques intended to inform the responsible use of AI technology, and according to Soenke, there were some delays in developing these AI ethics because it's hard to foresee what is going to happen as the research progresses.

AI ethics are also linked to the field of AI policies, such as to what extent governments should be involved and how these areas should be regulated. Soenke thinks that there is something missing: Some mention of ikigai, and how people should spend their lives in the future. He believes this is an important area to research in the future.

Ikigai optimization

There are areas that AI can assist with ikigai optimization. For example, AI may help people find and create new types of ikigai and identify ikigai activities that can be helpful for society and the world as a whole. The idea is to produce an AI that encourages people to do activities that are also aligned with something which is good for the planet. Ikigai optimization gives people the freedom to pursue more ikigai activities because it is foreseen that in the future, people will have a huge amount of free time.

Ikigai designer

In the future we might see the emergence of ‘ikigai designers’ -- people who create ikigai for others, functioning similarly to how video game designers do now in the way that they develop and design video games for other people’s pleasure.

Ikigai is something personal, something people find themselves in. However, Soenke thinks that if people are given the data, the details about what people’s ikigai are, it would be feasible to design ikigai for other people.

Ikigai and AI safety

To ensure that AI/ikigai research is safe, Soenke thinks it is important to ask how we can guide AI to pursue goals and values aligned with those of humans. AIs don’t have any feelings for humans, but they do have certain goals. To date, when the value alignment problem has been examined, there have been failures to teach AI human values; instead, the AI simply persists in its original state and never changes. A failure to fix this may constitute an existential threat to humanity, since there is no reason to assume that an AI will turn out to have values aligned to ours.

AI welfare

AI welfare is the idea of sentient digital beings existing, and that they may suffer to some degree. This is a highly philosophical area of exploration, but it is important to consider because even if there’s a small probability of likelihood that there are digital sentient beings that suffer, there could still be high risk and, therefore, a big impact.

What is your Ikigai?

Soenke finds ikigai in learning and anticipating the future with the idea of ethics; he devotes time to thinking about ethical questions and issues which have not been considered yet, and he wants to contribute to those questions, imagining and contemplating, and trying to validate his ideas through research and sharing them with others.

Conclusion

While technology enhances our lives and contributes to positive change, we must remain mindful of potential risks associated with developing new technologies. The future's uncertainties and the impact of AI on ikigai, as Soenke discovered, necessitate careful consideration of whether it will foster a positive and more meaningful way of living.