Face to Face Interaction in the Age of AI

 Artificial Intelligence is here.  Deep Fakes are here.  It is entirely possible to have a conversation with someone / something and believe it is a person, only to discover it is a computer and Artificial Intelligence.

Except for ASL and signed languages.  For decades students have pursued masters projects trying to create and ASL/English translator.  Some of the more creative ones involved gloves, covered with sensors, which a signer would wear.  All of these translation projects have ultimately failed.  They can provide word-to-sign equivalence, but ASL is not "English on the Hands."  It has non-linear / spatial grammatical functions that spoken/written languages cannot duplicate.

Soon Artificial Intelligence will become so widespread that there will be no place safe for anyone to have a private conversation in any spoken language.  ASL and other signed languages may offer the only path to real privacy.

Spoken languages can be detected through microphones and software can filter out noises so that even whispered communication in a noisy environment could be documented.  Signed languages, however, require video equipment to be detected.

Video requires line of sight (or reflections off of glass or mirrors) and the line of sight can be better controlled - an extreme solution would be to put a blanket over two signers and to ensure limited movement so that the blanket does not move.

Even if Artificial Intelligence had unobstructed video access, the non-linear nature of ASL and other signed languages remains beyond the capabilities of AI to accurately decode... at least for now.

So encourage your friends and neighbors to learn signed languages.  Make use of face-to-face interaction as much as you can - anything transmitted via internet becomes potential training material for AI systems now and in the future.  Make plans to see friends face-to-face so that you don't forget how to be human.