AI Tool Lets Users Connect With Their Future Self For Personal Growth

Thanks to the power of generative AI, users can now experience a conversation with their potential future selves. The newly developed system, Future You, allows individuals to engage in an online, text-based chat with an AI-generated version of themselves at age 60, providing insights into their future and guidance on important life decisions.

Improving Future Self-Continuity

The Future You system was designed to strengthen the psychological concept of future self-continuity, which refers to how connected a person feels with their future self. Research has shown that individuals with a stronger sense of future self-continuity tend to make better long-term decisions, whether it’s saving for retirement or staying focused on educational goals.

By simulating conversations with an older version of oneself, Future You helps users visualize their future and offers advice on what their lives might look like based on their current choices.

How Future You Works

The system uses a large language model, drawing from information provided by the user to create a relatable virtual version of themselves in the future. Users answer a series of questions about their lives, values, and goals, which the AI uses to generate “future self memories,” shaping the conversation based on the user's potential life path.

The Future You simulation is designed to feel authentic, with the AI answering questions using phrases like “when I was your age” to enhance the realism. The system even generates an age-progressed photo of the user to provide a visual connection to their future self. Hershfield explains that receiving advice from a personalized future version of oneself, rather than a generic AI, can have a more profound positive effect on users facing uncertainty about their future.

Realistic Conversations with Potential Benefits

Initial studies with 344 participants found that after interacting with their future selves for 10-30 minutes, users reported reduced anxiety and felt a stronger sense of connection with their future identity. The researchers believe this connection could help young people make better decisions by offering an interactive, relatable view of their future.

The simulation also ensures that users understand they are seeing just one possible version of their future, emphasizing that they have control over their destiny. Different responses to the questionnaire can lead to entirely different conversations.

Using AI to Foster Self-Development

The Future You system provides more than just a speculative look at the future; it’s a tool for introspection and self-development. By allowing users to contemplate their life choices and see how their values and beliefs may evolve, it turns a potentially anxiety-inducing process into a productive, meaningful experience.

“We want to guide the user to talk about certain topics, rather than asking their future selves who the next president will be,” explains Pat Pataranutaporn, co-lead author of the research and Media Lab doctoral graduate. The goal is to provide users with a virtual time machine to help them understand the consequences of their choices today.

Exploring New Applications of Future You

As the researchers continue to fine-tune Future You, they are exploring more specific applications, such as helping individuals visualize different career paths or understand how their daily decisions could impact broader issues like climate change.

However, the team is cautious about potential misuse of the technology. For instance, there is concern about commercial applications where companies might use a “future you” simulation to promote products by showing users the benefits of making certain purchases.

The researchers aim to ensure Future You remains a tool for self-development, not dependency. “We hope it is a meaningful experience that helps them see themselves and the world differently, and helps with self-development,” says Pattie Maes, head of MIT’s Fluid Interfaces group and a senior author of the research.

The Potential Impact of Future You on Personal Growth and Society

The impact of Future You could be transformative, offering individuals a powerful tool for self-reflection and decision-making. By helping people connect with their future selves, this AI-powered system has the potential to influence personal growth, improve long-term planning, and encourage more thoughtful choices, ultimately contributing to a more self-aware and future-oriented society.

To try Future You, please visit their website.