The interview with Sviatlana Höhn, a researcher specializing in Generative AI

In a world where artificial intelligence is increasingly becoming part of our daily lives, we met with Sviatlana Höhn, a researcher specializing in Generative AI, to ask her the questions we all have about this technological revolution.

In Sviatlana Höhn's phone

Introduction

Question: How does Siri come to that response, or is there some intelligence behind it?
Answer: Hello, I am Slana Hoon, originally from Belarus. I work in the field of conversational artificial intelligence, with chatbots, propaganda analysis, social robots, and large language models.

Personal Questions

Q: Tell us about your very first phone.
A: My first phone was a landline in my hometown, Vitab, installed when I was 18 or 19.

Q: Are you team Android or team Apple?
A: Privately, I am team Apple, but I sometimes have to use Android for work.

AI Applications

Q: Do you recommend any AI app?
A: Be critical of apps like ChatGPT. They can help you be more efficient, but they must be used consciously.

Q: Is AI fully integrated into our smartphones?
A: Yes, my smartphone is my personal assistant. It has been since the early versions of the iPhone. It makes daily life easier and increases my independence.

Future of Smartphone Interactions

Q: What will conversations with smartphones look like in 10 years?
A: Probably more integrated, without separate apps, but this could reduce diversity and quality due to less competition.

Ideas for Generative AI

Q: If you had a magic tech wand, what kind of generative AI would you create?
A: I would make AI truly understand language and manage social relationships, power dynamics, and identity, rather than just predicting the next word.

Impact on Human Creativity

Q: What are the main ethical challenges in developing AI?
A: Creativity is based on personal experiences. AI, trained on data, lacks this subjective perception. It can help solve problems but won't replace human creativity.

Q: What are the ethical challenges related to inclusion and diversity?
A: Autistic people, those with physical disabilities, or the visually impaired are often still excluded by AI, which reinforces power imbalances.

Funny AI Story

Q: Share a funny story where AI surprised you with an unexpected response.
A: Yesterday, my children asked Siri to tell jokes. Instead of responding, Siri asked, "Where are you right now?"

Reflection on Siri and Understanding

Q: How does Siri arrive at that response?
A: Current technology is designed to support problem-solving. I prefer starting with the problem, defining specific criteria, and then developing AI to benefit humans, rather than a top-down approach.