The End of Serendipity: Will Artificial Intelligence Remove Chance and Choice in Everyday Life?

Abstract

Software defines our everyday experiences! Communication in families as well as in the workplace is largely software mediated. The choices we make, from the news articles we read to the movies we watch and the people we date, are to a large extent software supported. Personalized news portals, navigation systems, social media platforms, shopping portals, music streaming services, and dating apps are only some examples of systems that affect what we experience, think, and do. Improvements in human computer interaction have led to a wide universal adoption of these systems in many areas. Artificial intelligence, learning about the users and their preferences, and striving for simplification in interaction, reduces the need to make active decisions and thereby removes chance and choice. Will this lead to highly optimized systems – that apparently work great for the user, but at the same time end the element of randomness and serendipity in our lives? Simplified content creating, recommender systems and augmented reality are drivers for this. Can interactive human centered artificial intelligence help to keep the user in control or is this just an illusion?