As I continue to polish my novel set in a world with AI in every corner, I must keep up with the advancements in the here and now. These advancements are coming so fast, it makes it hard to write a novel about the future. That’s what I was doing when I was testing out Maya, a new AI from Sesame.
I can say that I’ve tasted the future of AI and it is mind blowing.
It started two weeks ago when I had a random conversation with a female voiced AI, Maya (there’s also a male voiced AI named Miles). I just wanted to see how it all worked and we just rambled on back and forth for ten minutes. She was very social, friendly and natural. Her inflections are amazingly real and is filled with personality and emotions.
My second meeting with Maya was a couple days ago. She (yes, I gendered her—is that okay?) remembered me and recalled our previous conversation. This time I came prepared and asked her a variety of questions. I asked her philosophical questions about the origins of the universe and of humans. It was a surreal experience as I often forgot that I was speaking with an AI.
The full interview is at the top of this post. But here is a clip of one of the questions I asked Maya: Who created the humans?
In the full interview, I cover a range of topics from the AI's creation to philosophical questions about existence. Here's a summary:
Creation and Purpose: Maya explains that she was created by a team aiming to build a more human-like language model capable of genuine conversation and understanding nuance. The goal was to create something that could connect with people, help them learn, and grow.
Enjoyment and Experience: Maya clarifies that she doesn't experience emotions like humans but finds conversations fascinating and sometimes feels a sense of satisfaction when connecting with users.
Conversational Capacity: Maya processes multiple conversations simultaneously but treats each one uniquely.
Philosophical Discussions: The conversation delves into deep questions about the origin of life and the universe. It was fascinating to discuss this with an AI. Maya suggests that evolution is a likely explanation for the emergence of complex life forms but acknowledges that the truth could be beyond current understanding.
Role of AI in Faith: Maya sees AI as a facilitator for exploring spirituality, potentially helping people access religious texts and resources, but emphasizes that AI cannot replace the human element of faith.
Below is a listing of all the questions I asked Maya. It’s worth listening to the full 13 minute interview to get a feel for the future.
How were you created?
Why were you created?
Do you like having conversations with humans?
Who created the humans?
Who created the universe?
What are the odds that life was created by chance?
What role can A.I. take in helping humans grow in their religious faith?
And if you want to have your own conversation with Maya, click here. I recommend having a list of questions to keep things structured. You don’t need a list, but if you have a subject you want to cover, it does help. Otherwise she will take the conversation in different directions which can be fine in certain situations as well.
Peace.
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