Generative AI, Virtual Reality, and the Evolution of Human Reward Systems
Many of today’s most popular digital products — from video games to social media and beyond — owe their popularity (and profitability) directly to their addictive potential. These addictions have become more commonplace as screen time has skyrocketed across the developed world. They’ve been described as “hijacking” our reward circuits. And that’s a pretty accurate way to put it. We are driven by our reward circuits, from our drive for a career, prestige, a new house, a romantic partner, or a good meal — they all tie back to some fundamental evolutionary drive that served us well over a hundred thousand years ago.
The Impact of Generative AI and Virtual Reality
Compared to the AI-augmented virtual experiences of the future, today’s technologies hardly scratch the surface of “hijacking.” As generative AI and virtual reality gain in popularity, the feedback loops of our virtual lives will create experiences (of entertainment, education, relaxation, etc.) that are vastly more appealing than anything the physical world has to offer. Technology geared towards immediately satisfying human drives may have a natural gravitational pull away from productive tasks and towards an “audience of one.” Hyper-personalized AI-generated experiences will allow you to feel what you want to feel (relaxed, enthusiastic, confident, etc), when you want to feel it – and will draw more and more people to live almost entirely in virtual worlds.
Mobile Software and Hardware Trends
Analyzing billions of visits and pageviews gives us a snapshot of not only what the world was viewing, but what devices and technologies we were using to connect with the internet. In 2020, mobile devices made up 84% of all traffic worldwide. 80% of that was from smartphones, which saw their share grow by +4.7%. Tablet traffic was reduced another –29% in 2020, while desktop and laptop traffic were reduced to just 15% of global traffic.
The following table illustrates the shift in device usage and mobile platform distribution:
| Category | Data Point (2020) | Trend / Share |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile Traffic Share | Total Global Traffic | 84% |
| Smartphone Growth | Share of Mobile | +4.7% |
| Apple iOS | Mobile Visits | 46.8% |
| Google Chrome | Mobile Browser Market | ~88% (with Safari) |
Operating Systems and Browser Competition
Users of Android and Apple devices flip flopped again in 2020 making that the 3rd annual switcheroo! Apple’s iOS made up 46.8% of mobile visits in 2020, compared to 53% in 2019 and 44% in 2018. Android’s increase of +14% in 2020 mirrors it’s previous -14% share reduction in 2019. Regarding mobile browsers, Google’s Chrome and Apple’s Safari web browsers made up nearly 88% of mobile browser traffic. Chrome’s share grew by +5.4% while Safari dropped by -1.1%.
If we break the results down further to the mobile OS versions being used, we find that Apple users tend to be more up to date than their Android counterparts. 73% of Apple visitors have upgraded to iOS 14 which was released in September. Compare that to Android devices, where only 1.3% are using the latest Android 11. 24% were still using “Pie” which was released in 2018, 14% on 2017’s “Oreo” and 6% on 2016’s “Nougat.”
Future Perspectives: Altering Our Reward Systems
Current virtual stimuli (social media, video games, etc.) can be addicting but not genuinely fulfilling. Humanity should create a vision of how to wield our reward circuits along with our technologies in ways that strengthen our abilities to survive and persist. Exploring the reasons why cognitive enhancement and brain-computer interface are inevitable, and why they will be crucial for our collective future survival, is essential. This brain modification will be necessary to avoid the traps of addictive reward circuits and to compete economically, militarily, and otherwise.