Can AI Help with the Chaos of Family Life? | Avni Patel Thompson | TED

翻译人员: Ella Fan 校对人员: Angel Y

So it's a Tuesday afternoon

那是一个星期二下午，

and I'm in my home office, working on a tricky product design.

我在家办公，正在应对一个棘手的产品设计。

I have my headphones on and I'm in my groove.

我戴上了耳机而且我已经进入工作状态。

Just then, one of those annoying dings cuts through my Do Not Disturb.

就在那时，我的“请勿打扰”状态 被一个小插曲打断。

So it's someone important.

一个重要的人过来

It's Rosa, our nanny.

罗莎，我们的保姆，她说：

"Hey, Avni, I was wondering if I could take next Friday morning off."

“嘿， Avni， 我想问问下周五早上我能不能请假。”

I silence it, I'll just get back to her a little bit later.

我没有说话， 想着过一会儿会回复她。

I realize I need something for my email so I head mindlessly to my inbox.

察觉到我需要查找我的电子邮件， 所以我无意识地点开我的收件箱。

Big mistake.

我不该这样做。

There are not one, but six basketball emails,

没有任何有用信息， 只有六封篮球宣传邮件。

rehearsal and a field trip.

一些排练和一次实地考察旅行通知。

That's OK, I've got remarkable self-restraint

没关系，我的自我克制系统十分出色， 我没有读那些邮件。

and I leave them unread.

I also activate my really foolproof system of telling myself not to forget.

我还激活了我的万无一失系统， 告诉自己不要忘记读。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I grab my email and I get back to work.

我离开电子邮件界面然后回去工作了。

Two more minutes, another ding.

再过两分钟，又来一声叮当声。

It's Rosa again.

又是罗莎。

"Hey, Avni, I'm at the school for pickup,

“嘿，Avni，我在学校接孩子，

but there's no one here.

但没有看到他。

Should I be somewhere else?"

我应该去别的地方吗？”

Immediately, monkey brain activates.

我立刻变得清醒冷静。

I grab my phone, "What day is it? What time is it?

我拿起手机，“今天是什么日子？ 现在几点了？

Today’s play rehearsal, right?

今天有戏剧排练，对吧？

That should be at the big gym."

那应该在大体育馆里。”

I head back to my email, looking through all of the rehearsal emails,

我回到我的电子邮箱， 浏览了所有的排练邮件，

costumes, volunteering

以及服装、志愿者活动，

and there, on the schedule for today, at the bottom,

然后在今天的日程表底部写着，

"Oh, by the way, today's in the music room."

“哦，顺便提一下，今天在音乐室。”

I text Rosa and tell her to head to the other side of the school,

我给罗莎发短信让她去学校的另一边，

and I sit back, relieved,

然后我松了一口气，

and my eyes fall on those unread emails.

然后我的目光投向了那些未读的电子邮件。

And I think, you know what happens next.

而且我想，你知道接下来会发生什么。

I finish that product doc, obviously.

很明显，我已经完成了那份产品设计。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Yeah, no.

根本没完成。

I'd like to tell you that this is the exception,

我情愿说这是个例外情况，

but I ended up creating an AI company because it wasn't.

但我最终创建了一家人工智能公司， 因为这不仅仅是例外而是日常。

Because with two kids, two jobs,

因为有两个孩子，两份工作，

and your modern family cocktail of crazy-hair days

还有你的摩登家庭需要享受生活的时候

and soccer tournaments and misplaced library books,

和足球锦标赛以及放错地方的图书馆书籍的时候，

I loved how full our life was,

我喜欢我们的充实生活，

but I hated that somehow my brain had become the computer

但我讨厌不知何故我的大脑变成了

that ran my family.

管理家庭的计算机。

And worse, it made collaboration nearly impossible

更糟糕的是，高效协作是几乎不可能的，

because everything was in my head,

因为一切都在我的脑海中混乱不堪，

and the only way to get it out of there was to ask me.

而摆脱困境的唯一方法就是求助于我自己。

At which point I would look to my husband and say,

那时我会看着我丈夫说，

when was it that I became his project manager?

我怎么莫名其妙成为他的项目经理了？

Pro tip: not a very good way to handle human relationships.

专家提示：你最好别这么处理人际关系。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But maybe it's because I've been a scientist and a product designer

但也许是因为在我成为科技创始人之前

before I became a tech founder,

我是一名科学家和产品设计师，

that next to that frustration,

除了那种挫折感之外，

I also felt curiosity and opportunity.

我还感受到了好奇心和机会。

I had honed my ability to find the tiniest bits of friction

我已经磨练了自己的能力，

in everyday interactions,

能抓住日常生活中的痛点

and to build products that solve them,

并制造出解决这些问题的产品

like packaging for an osteoporosis drug that was both child-resistant

就像一种骨质疏松症药物的包装

and accessible to arthritic hands.

既能防止儿童误开 又能方便患者使用

Or designing a service for parents to connect to sitters

或者为家长设计一项服务， 让他们与保姆建立联系，

and doing it over SMS

通过短信实现，

because that's where they already are

因为大家都会使用短信

instead of sending them to another app.

而不是再创建一个新应用。

And this, parenthood,

而作为父母，

well, this felt like the friction Olympics.

好吧，这感觉就像寻找摩擦处的奥运会一样。

I wanted to build myself a force field,

我想为自己建造一个力场，

a machine that could intercept every interruption,

一台能够处理每一次中断的机器，

an expert that was more capable and organized than I could ever be.

一个比以往任何时候都更有能力、 更有条理的专家。

I mean, if we were going to use my brain as a computer to run it all,

我的意思是，如果我们要把我的大脑 当作计算机来运行所有事情，

why couldn't we use an actual computer instead?

为什么我们不能改用真正的计算机呢？

My first few tries failed.

我的前几次尝试都失败了。

It didn't matter how meticulously I entered every last detail

无论我多么细致地输入

of our family's logistics,

我们家庭中后勤的每一个细节，

there was always some situation or scenario I would fail to detail.

总会有一些情况或场景我无法详细说明。

I mean, try explaining a five-year-old's sudden allergy to square-shaped foods

我的意思是，我试着向软件 解释一个五岁的孩子

to software.

怎么就对方形食物突然过敏。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But then three years ago, things changed.

但是三年前，情况有所改变。

Large language models started to get really good.

大型语言模型开始变得非常不错。

And unlike software,

与软件不同，

AI could handle ambiguous and incomplete information.

人工智能可以处理模糊和不完整的信息。

It could take something like a birthday party invite

它可以处理一些事情，例如生日聚会邀请，

and not just do the explicit thing, like get it into my calendar,

不仅仅是做一些简单的事情， 比如把它写进我的日历，

but handle the implicit things

还能处理那些

that too often mess tired, busy parents up,

愁坏那些疲惫忙碌的父母的复杂事情，

like reminding me to buy a birthday present

比如提醒我买生日礼物

or checking for conflicts.

或检查是否和我的日程有冲突。

So now, when my husband and I are hit with something related to the family,

因此，想到和我丈夫 遇到与家庭有关的事情，

I've built Milo,

我建立了Milo。

the first AI sidekick for parents,

Milo， 这是家长的第一个人工智能助手

to be able to take those school newsletters

能够接收学校时事通讯、

and grocery items and library books

记录杂货和图书馆书籍，

and be able to handle it.

并能够处理这些事情。

And best yet, Milo can tell everyone what's happening every day.

最棒的是，米洛可以告诉你 每天都在发生什么。

Finally, a computer that can actually run things.

成为一台可以真正运行东西的计算机。

So you'd think that this is where the story ends.

你会认为故事到此结束了。

But no.

但不是。

Because I'm human and I'm greedy.

因为我是人而且是贪婪的人。

If Milo could take on the rote,

如果Milo能如此漂亮地

repetitive, administrative parts of family life so beautifully,

承担家庭生活中死记硬背、重复的行政部分，

why not keep on going?

为什么不继续下去呢？

Why couldn't it coordinate playdates with Sienna's mom, Carrie?

为什么它不能和西耶娜的妈妈卡丽 约孩子们的游戏日期？

Or when the girls were bickering,

或者当女孩们争吵时，

pop in to suggest the ideal way to resolve their dispute?

想出来建议解决争端的理想方法？

So a couple of months ago,

因此，几个月前，

we're working on ways to improve this force field

我们正在研究改善这个力场

and one of my investors,

我其中一位投资人

a guy who's pretty reserved unless you get him fired up,

一个非常矜持的人，除非你惹毛他，

goes, "Well, Milo can see those evening events

他说：“好吧，让Milo可以识别晚间活动计划，

and just automatically text your sitter.

然后自动给你的保姆发短信。

Or it knows your friends' birthdays and it can just send them birthday wishes.

或者它会知道你朋友的生日， 可以给他们发送生日祝福。

And those teacher emails?

还有老师的邮件？

Well, Milo can just connect directly to your inbox

嗯， Milo 可以直接连接到你的收件箱

and suck every last one up

然后进行合适的奉承

so you never have to see another one again."

之后你再也不用处理这些了。”

As we fleshed these features out,

但是，当我们充实这些功能时

though, something just didn't feel right,

感觉有些不对劲，

but I couldn't figure out what it was.

但我不知道哪里不对。

After all, I was looking for friction and finding ways to eliminate it,

毕竟，我一直在寻找摩擦点并想办法消除它，

but something just didn't feel right.

我就是感觉有些不对劲。

What was it?

到底是什么？

That question nagged me for weeks

这个问题困扰了我好几个星期，

until one evening my daughter Saaya ran into the kitchen

直到有一天晚上我的女儿萨亚兰走进厨房

to show me something she had made in art class.

给我看她在美术课上做的东西。

And as I ran my fingers over those tiny clay pieces, it hit me.

当我用手指碰到那些 微小的粘土碎片时，我灵光一现。

Not all friction is bad.

并非所有的摩擦力都是不好。

You might know,

你可能知道，

to connect two of these clay pieces together,

要将两块粘土连接在一起，

you actually have to score each side haphazardly

你必须在接触面上划出粗糙感，

so that they have something to grip on to.

这样他们才能粘在一起。

Otherwise the smooth sides just slide past one another.

否则，光滑的面就会让它们分开。

This resistance is called productive friction,

这种阻力被称为生产性摩擦，

and it's valuable because it creates connection.

这很有用，因为它可以建立联系。

And where people are involved,

在有人的地方，

there's lots of productive friction,

就会产生很多生产性摩擦，

meaningful interactions disguised as inefficiencies.

一些或许有意义但是费事费时的交际。

I didn't need a perfectly solid force field.

我不需要一个非常强大的力场。

I needed a permeable one instead.

相反，我需要一个可渗透的。

One that shielded me from the things that I found unproductive,

它保护了我 免受冗余事情的打扰，

but let in the fewer, messier, more meaningful ones for me to handle.

但让少数的，更复杂的、 更有意义的事情交给我来处理。

Milo could find three times that worked for the playdate,

米洛能找到三个适合约玩的时间段，

but I could text Carrie,

但我可以来给卡丽发短信，

which would give me a chance to ask her about her mother.

这样我就有机会询问她妈妈怎么样了。

Or Milo could comb through every last detail of that school newsletter,

或者米洛可以梳理学校时事通讯的每一个细节，

picking out details that my eyes might miss

挑出一些我可能会错过的部分，

but leave for me on top Miss V's note

但会把V老师给我女儿艾莉亚

about how our daughter Arya’s creative writing

创造性写作到底如何的评价置顶

has really been blossoming.

看看她进步有多大

You might draw your line in a different place, and that's OK.

你可能会不这样做，没关系。

And I might draw mine differently under different circumstances.

在不同的情况下， 我也会以不同的方式处理它。

In a week when my husband is traveling and our nanny is sick,

在我丈夫出差，

我们的保姆生病的一周内，

the girls have tennis tryouts

我的女儿们要参加网球选拔赛，

and I have a product launch,

而我有产品发布会，

I want Milo to build me a force field you could see from space.

我希望米洛给我建一个 可以从外太空看到的力场。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But I guess the point is,

但关键是，

we finally have the kind of technology that can tell the difference

我们终于有了一种技术

between load that we need help lightning

来分辨我们什么情况下最需要减轻负荷

and work that is hard, but that is mine to do.

以及什么情况下需要我自己处理。

I've begun to realize

我已经开始意识到

that one of the most radical things AI can do for us

人工智能能为我们 做的最不同凡响的事情之一

is not do the things for us faster and better,

不是更快、更好地为我们做事，

but to push us to choose what is most meaningful

而是帮助我们选择最有意义去做的事情，

and then make the space for us to do it ourselves.

然后帮我们腾出时间。

This feels like a brave new world,

这感觉就像是一个全新世界，

but I'm excited to see what is possible

但我很高兴看到当我们拥有的工具

when we have tools that encourage us not to be more perfect and productive,

鼓励我们不需要变得更加完美和高效， 而是留出空间和不断发展时，

but unfinished and evolving.

会发生什么。

That reminds us not to be afraid to bear the friction,

这提醒我们不要害怕应对生活中的摩擦，

that just shows us how we are all beautifully,

摩擦正展示了我们是美好的

imperfectly, inconveniently human.

不完美、需要应对麻烦的人类。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause and cheers)

（掌声和欢呼）