Kelly Corrigan

A person becomes less strong and less independent and less confident in their own instincts and more addicted to this little assistant who's going to tell them what to say or do every time they have a strange interaction with somebody in their life.

But when it comes to Wobot, I was relieved to know that they are paid by insurers based on well-being metrics.

The biggest shift in my feelings, thanks to talking to Allison, is this possible partnership between people and AI.

Like one thing that she said during one of the pre-calls was that for some people, the way that Wobot is talking to them is a model for the ways they could be talking to the people in their own lives.

It's very helpful.

to be in a healthy interaction and see how that flows.

which is basically like asking follow-up questions, making sure that you understood what the person said and meant.

All of that gets modeled in these AI conversations so regularly that it does seem reasonable that a person might start using those same techniques, follow-up questions, confirming that you understand what they really meant in their live interactions with other people.

And that would be a tremendous step forward.

I mean, if people talk to each other that way,

with more intention to understand, less determined to be understood, people might get somewhere.

Relationships would change.

Another huge takeaway from being with Alison throughout the prep period and then also sitting across from her in front of all those people was that we should know who's behind AI.

Because when you meet somebody that lovely, charming, and conscientious, you feel very differently about AI, which is so anonymous in its nature.

But the way that Alison was talking about it, it's not at all that.

It's something that Alison and the people that she has recruited, based on their knowledge of cognitive behavioral therapy, what those techniques are and what makes it effective, what they're putting in front of us.

So it's nice to put a face behind these big, huge letters that seem to be like towering over everything, A.

One of the things I've been thinking about since TED, in terms of everything I learned by getting to know Allison and Wobot, is could there be a really smart, effective way to use an ingestion AI to observe, if you will, a family interaction or a couple's interaction or an interaction between a parent and a child and give notes back to all involved?

Right, because like one eye roll is louder than all the words.

What about if Wobot or another AI is treating all the members of a family?