Warming up to your chatbot

Hey all, it’s Kurt in Denver. With enough information, people will accept dealing with AI chatbots. But first...Three things you need to kno [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hey all, it’s Kurt in Denver. With enough information, people will accept dealing with AI chatbots. But first... Three things you need to know today: • South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix will[invest $3.87 billion to build a plant in Indiana]( • TSMC resumes production after Taiwan was [rocked by a major earthquake]( • Disney wins a proxy fight [with activist investor Nelson Peltz]( Show me the data Meta Platforms Inc. [released a study this week]( with Stanford University researchers that tried to better understand how people feel about [artificial intelligence chatbots](, like ChatGPT, or the kind of technology you might interact with in place of a customer service agent.   The study, which was carried out late last year, was more than a simple survey. Researchers persuaded more than 1,500 participants across four countries (Brazil, Germany, Spain and the US) to spend a weekend discussing the role of AI chatbots in society, for example, “how human should [AI chatbots]( be?” The researchers then measured whether participants’ feelings toward chatbots changed “after deliberations.” Unsurprisingly, people walked away generally feeling better and more optimistic about chatbots after spending the weekend talking about them. The percentage of participants who felt chatbots “increased efficiency” and saved companies “a lot of time and resources” went up for all four countries. So did the percentage of people who felt chatbots would make people feel “less lonely.” (Though it was still fewer than 50% of respondents in three of the four countries.) People were also more likely to believe that AI chatbots would “replicate biases that exist in the data they were trained on” after spending the weekend deliberating, and were more likely to believe chatbots would “raise concerns about privacy and data security.” In short: Spending a weekend talking about chatbots gave people a better sense of the benefits, and just as importantly, more awareness of the potential harms. Oftentimes the more you learn about something, the less spooky it becomes. “There is no darkness but ignorance,” Shakespeare is quoted as saying. This study, while small, suggests that even though there is generally a lot of uncertainty around AI advancements, some people are willing to open up to these new technologies after spending time actually thinking about them. The reality, though, is that most people won’t have the time or interest in sitting for a weekend-long crash course on the risks and promises of AI. They will instead come to their own conclusions about chatbots (or self-driving cars or [smart glasses]( or AI-generated content) through their own lived experiences. It’s one thing to deliberate on these questions during a study, and it’s another thing entirely for people to experience these technologies in their day-to-day life. The promises of AI almost always sound good on paper. The word “transparency” came up several times in [Meta](bbg://securities/META%20US%20Equity)’s report, a sign that users are OK dealing with chatbots as long as they know they are dealing with chatbots. Nobody like surprises when it comes to something so intimate and personal. Properly labeling or introducing a chatbot to users is the kind of simple yet important product distinction that could make all the difference in changing a person’s perspective. It’s one of the reasons that Meta is [already working]( to label more AI-generated posts in users’ feeds. Historically, tech companies haven’t been great when it comes to things like transparency. AI offers a chance to learn from past mistakes. What that means, more than anything else, is that it will be up to technology companies like Meta to deliver on the promises of AI by building good products. Otherwise, deliberations won’t matter. —[Kurt Wagner](mailto:kwagner71@bloomberg.net) (Venture capital deal activity published in Tech Daily on April 3 was corrected by PitchBook, the source of the data.) The big story Apple is exploring robotics, including a home robot, [as its “next big thing,](” Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports, after the company shut down its effort to develop an electric car. One to watch [Watch Bloomberg’s Felix Gillette’s appearance on Bloomberg Television to discuss Spotify’s plans to raise prices.]( Get fully charged Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder in Paramount Global, has agreed to sell her stake in the [media company to David Ellison’s Skydance Media.]( Insurer Axa plans a campaign in France to raise the risks of cyberattacks in [the run-up to the Paris Olympic Games](. Startup Oros Labs raised $22 million [for insulated clothing and equipment.]( More from Bloomberg Bloomberg Technology Summit: Led by Bloomberg Businessweek Editor Brad Stone and Bloomberg TV Host and Executive Producer Emily Chang, this full-day experience in downtown San Francisco on May 9 will bring together leading CEOs, tech visionaries and industry icons to focus on what's next in artificial intelligence, the chip wars, antitrust outcomes and life after the smartphone. [Learn more](. Get Bloomberg Tech weeklies in your inbox: - [Cyber Bulletin]( for coverage of the shadow world of hackers and cyber-espionage - [Game On]( for reporting on the video game business - [Power On]( for Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more - [Screentime]( for a front-row seat to the collision of Hollywood and Silicon Valley - [Soundbite]( for reporting on podcasting, the music industry and audio trends - [Q&AI]( for answers to all your questions about AI Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Tech Daily newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](