Exclusive: Scientists at MIT hope that talking to a 60-year-old version of oneself will change perspectives on health, money, and work.

If your well-planned life has been derailed by spending too much time on the couch, binge-eating fast food, drinking excessively, and neglecting your company pension, it might be time to have a conversation with your future self.

Without access to a time machine, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed an AI-powered chatbot that simulates an older version of the user and offers observations and wisdom.

The goal is to encourage people to think more about the person they want to become in the future.

The chatbot uses a digitally aged profile picture to show youthful users as wrinkled, white-haired seniors.

It generates plausible synthetic memories and draws on the user's current aspirations to create stories about its successful life.

'The goal is to promote long-term thinking and behavior change,' said Pat Pataranutaporn, who works on the Future You project at MIT's Media Lab.

'This could motivate people to make wiser choices in the present that optimize for their long-term well-being and life outcomes.

'In one conversation, a student who aspired to be a biology teacher asked the chatbot, a simulated 60-year-old version of herself, about the most rewarding moment in her career.

The chatbot, identifying as a retired biology teacher in Boston, recalled a special moment when it helped a struggling student improve their grades.

'It was so gratifying to see the student's face light up with pride and accomplishment,' the chatbot said.

To interact with the chatbot, users first answer a series of questions about themselves, their friends and family, past experiences that shaped them, and the ideal life they envision for the future.

They then upload a portrait image, which the program digitally ages to produce a likeness of the user at age 60.

Next, the program feeds information from the user's answers into a large language model that generates rich synthetic memories for the simulated older self.

This ensures that when the chatbot responds to questions, it draws on a coherent backstory.

The final part of the system is the chatbot itself, powered by OpenAI's GPT-3.

5, which introduces itself as a potential older version of the user and is able to talk about its life experiences.

Pataranutaporn has had several conversations with his 'future self,' but said the most profound was when the chatbot reminded him that his parents would not be around forever, so he should spend time with them while he could.

'The session gave me a perspective that is still impactful to me to this day,' he said.

Users are told that the 'future self' is not a prediction but rather a potential future self based on the information they provided.

They are encouraged to explore different futures by changing their answers to the questionnaire.

According to a study, which has not been peer-reviewed, trials involving 344 volunteers found that conversations with the chatbot left people feeling less anxious and more connected to their future selves.

This stronger connection should encourage better life decisions, Pataranutaporn said, from focusing on specific goals and exercising regularly to eating healthily and saving for the future.

Ivo Vlaev, a professor of behavioral science at the University of Warwick, said people often struggle to imagine their future self, but doing so could drive greater persistence in education, healthier lifestyles, and more prudent financial planning.

He called the MIT project a 'fascinating application' of behavioral science principles.

'It embodies the idea of a nudge – subtle interventions designed to guide behavior in beneficial ways – by making the future self more salient and relevant to the present,' he said.

'If implemented effectively, it has the potential to significantly impact how people make decisions today with their future well-being in mind.

''From a practical standpoint, the effectiveness will likely depend on how well it can simulate meaningful and relevant conversations,' he added.

'If users perceive the chatbot as authentic and insightful, it could significantly influence their behavior.

However, if the interactions feel superficial or gimmicky, the impact might be limited.

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