«Don’t worry. She likes your butt and fancy hair. I know. I read her diary.»
Lilo, shortening the wooing process of her sister, in «Lilo and Stitch»
While you can let an AI ask you questions in order to determine some character traits or aspirations (see Identifying Aspirations/Character Assessments/SWOTs with ChatGPT, including a personal SWOT), the information you can provide is limited. If only there were a way to provide an AI with more information.
Well, apparently, there is. GPT4All (https://gpt4all.io/index.html) can process documents that you provide it with. Just give it access to the folder and install a model for text processing (a few MBs), and there you go.
As for data, well, if you use a digital diary, it seems to work. Well, kinda. I am a bit limited by the scope (only gave it two years) and the processing time (I do not have a computer that is made for running a LLM). But it seemed to have accessed the data and use it in its answers.
The quality of the answers leaves some things to be desired — a bit too close to Barnum texts for my taste. But they show what is possible.
And yeah, there is a huge trust issue here — letting someone, or rather something read your diary. What are the consequences, if that would be done automatically, would you adapt your writing? I would not provide information that personal to ChatGPT, but a model that runs locally — sure, why not. But that is considering that I know that everything I write could be made public one day. It’s just the matter of one fuckup or one data leak.
And how good can suggestions be on the basis of self-reports? I mean, people even lie — or state things selectively — in their diaries.
Marnie Powell, a seventh-grader at Grand Junction Middle School, lied to her diary Monday, filling the journal with several out-and-out fabrications. «I had the best time at Jessica’s party,» wrote the 13-year-old honors student, recording the falsehood in purple ink. «There were tons of cool guys, and I had so much fun dancing.» In actuality, the socially awkward, bespectacled Powell tentatively bobbed up and down on the perimeter of the dance floor for 30 seconds before retreating to the refreshment table for the remaining three hours of the event.
«Diary Lied To»
On the other hand, an AI could easily take the long perspective, comparing entries over many years. This way, changes in behavior/encountered situations — or lack thereof — could be made visible. And perhaps new interpretations could be provided that a person does not see in her everyday life.
«Humans make the same mistakes over and over. I saw it when I was a vengeance demon. Some guy dumps a girl, she calls me, I exact vengeance, blah blah blah, the next year, same girl, different guy. I mean, after you smite a few of ’em you start going, «My goodness, young lady … maybe you’re doing something wrong here too.»
Anya, an ex-vengeance demon for women scorned, in «Buffy – The Vampire Slayer»
And of course, with AI, you can actually wipe their memory. Well, let’s hope you can.
Interesting times.
