AI Is Making Human Connection More Valuable Than Ever

AI Is Making Human Connection More Valuable Than Ever

Technology changes what we value, often in ways we don’t see coming, and the artificial‑intelligence revolution may have important economic consequences.

Technology changes what we value, often in ways we don’t see coming. This may be one of the most important economic consequences of the artificial‑intelligence revolution. The internet made information abundant. Social media made it possible to connect with almost anyone. AI is now making digital experiences cheaper, faster and easier to produce. The consequence may be counterintuitive: As digital abundance grows, the physical experiences that technology cannot easily replicate will become more valuable.

This pattern is hardly new. Each breakthrough creates new possibilities — and new problems — that inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs to build what comes next. The railroads of the late 19th century knit the country together in previously unimaginable ways, but they isolated those far from the tracks. The automobile industry emerged to serve the people the railroads left behind. A similar cycle is underway today, but this time the scarce resource is human connection.

My career has been defined by a desire to forge connections. That was our reason for being at AOL: to connect people to information and one another in ways previously impossible. It succeeded. But as the internet evolved, the nature of those connections changed. Social media platforms began curating the experiences by using algorithms designed to predict engagement. The pitch was that by filtering out the noise, you could connect with countless people who shared your interests and views. But it had unintended consequences. We lost opportunities to connect deeply with the people we care about most and were robbed of the serendipity of meeting people outside our filter bubbles.

The same trade‑off exists in the convenience economy. When I was in my 20s, it was hard to get a late dinner delivered unless it was pizza. Today, an app can drop almost any meal at your front door in minutes. That’s great — but it also means you’re less likely to become a regular at the diner down the street, getting to know your neighbors. Convenience and connection are not the same thing. In the early 1980s, the futurist John Naisbitt gave this dynamic a name: “high tech/high touch.” The more technology we push into our lives, he argued, the more we crave a counterbalancing human response. That idea takes on new urgency in the age of AI.

AI can summarize almost any subject, generate images in seconds and increasingly perform tasks that once required a human being. The digital world is moving toward extraordinary abundance. But abundance changes value. When information is scarce, we pay for judgment and trust. When entertainment is available on demand, we seek events that give us reason to leave the house. When any place in the world can be explored virtually, being there in person becomes more meaningful.

The shift is already visible. One of National Geographic’s fastest‑growing offerings is expedition travel. Walt Disney Co.’s theme parks continue to draw record crowds even though its streaming service could fill every waking hour. Fans fill arenas and stadiums to hear songs they’ve each streamed hundreds of times on Spotify — not for the music itself, but for the chance to experience it together. This summer’s World Cup illustrated the trend perfectly. For millions, it became a collective experience, watched together in parks and public squares. We were seeking the connection that comes from experiencing something meaningful in real time.

Travis Kalanick, the co‑founder of Uber, recently raised $1.7 billion for Atoms, an industrial AI company. His mantra is blunt: “Land is the whole damn thing.” AI can make physical assets more productive, but it cannot make land, factories or real‑world infrastructure more abundant. The same logic applies to places and experiences that technology can enhance but not replace. Bernard Arnault of LVMH also recognizes that the puck has moved from owning products to valuing experiences, investing heavily in hotel properties. Similarly, Barry Diller is seeking to acquire MGM Resorts, in part because it offers real‑world assets and physical experiences that AI can’t easily disrupt.

As consumers place a premium on experiences that require their time and physical presence, entrepreneurs have an opportunity to build the places, businesses and experiences that technology cannot easily reproduce. The next great wave of innovation may not be about making the physical world more like the digital one. It may be about making us want to return to it.

技术总在改变我们所看重的东西，且这种改变往往以我们未曾预料到的方式发生。这或许是人工智能革命最重要的经济影响之一。互联网让信息变得极为丰富。社交媒体让我们几乎可以与任何人建立联系。如今，人工智能正让数字体验的生产变得更廉价、更快捷，也更容易实现。由此带来的结果或许有些反直觉：随着数字世界变得越来越丰富，那些技术难以轻易复制的现实体验，将会变得更有价值。

这种模式并不鲜见。每一次重大突破都会带来新的可能，也会催生新的问题，而这又会推动下一代创业者去创造接下来的新事物。19世纪末，铁路以前所未有的方式将整个国家连接起来，但与此同时，那些远离铁路线的人却被隔绝在外。随后，汽车产业兴起，服务于铁路未能覆盖的人群。如今，类似的循环正在上演，只不过这一次，稀缺的资源变成了人与人之间的联系。

我的职业生涯始终围绕着让人与人建立联系这一愿望展开。这也是我们当年在美国在线（AOL）工作的意义：以前所未有的方式，让人与信息相连，也让人与人彼此相连。我们做到了。但随着互联网不断发展，这些联系的本质也发生了变化。社交媒体平台开始利用旨在预测用户参与度的算法来筛选和编排人们的体验。当时的说法是，只要过滤掉无关信息，用户就能与无数拥有相同兴趣和观点的人建立联系。但这带来了意想不到的后果。我们失去了与自己最在乎的人建立深层联系的机会，也失去了偶然遇见那些身处我们“过滤泡泡”之外之人的机缘。

同样的权衡也存在于便利经济之中。我二十多岁时，除了披萨，深夜几乎很难叫到其他外卖。如今，一款应用就能在几分钟内把几乎任何餐食送到你家门口。这当然很好——但这也意味着，你不太可能成为街角小餐馆的常客，在那里逐渐认识周围的邻居。便利与人与人之间的联系并不是一回事。早在20世纪80年代初，未来学家约翰·奈斯比特就将这种动态关系称为“高科技/高情感”。他认为，我们在生活中引入的技术越多，就越渴望用人与人之间的互动来加以平衡。在人工智能时代，这一观点又有了新的紧迫性。

人工智能几乎可以概述任何主题，在几秒钟内生成图像，也越来越能够承担那些过去需要由人来完成的任务。数字世界正走向前所未有的丰裕。但丰裕会改变我们所看重的东西。当信息稀缺时，我们为判断力和信任买单。当娱乐内容可以随时按需获取时，我们会寻找那些让我们有理由走出家门的活动。当世界上的任何角落都可以通过虚拟方式探索时，亲自去到那里也就变得更有意义。

转变已经清晰可见。《国家地理》增长最快的业务之一就是探险旅行。华特迪士尼公司的主题乐园客流仍在持续刷新纪录，尽管其流媒体服务提供的内容已足以填满人们醒着的每一刻。歌迷们挤满体育馆和大型体育场，去听那些各自在Spotify上听过数百遍的歌曲——不是为了音乐本身，而是为了有机会与他人共同体验这一切。今年夏天的世界杯完美地说明了这一趋势。对数百万人而言，它成为了一场集体体验，人们聚集在公园和公共广场一同观看比赛。我们当时所追寻的，正是实时共同经历有意义之事所产生的那种联系。

优步联合创始人特拉维斯·卡兰尼克近期为工业人工智能公司Atoms融资17亿美元。他的信条十分直白：“土地才是一切的根本。”人工智能可以提高实体资产的利用效率，却无法增加土地、工厂或现实世界基础设施的供给。同样的逻辑也适用于那些技术可以改善、却无法取代的场所与体验。酩悦·轩尼诗-路易·威登集团的贝尔纳·阿尔诺也意识到，人们关注的重点已经从拥有商品转向看重体验，因此大举投资酒店资产。类似地，巴里·迪勒正寻求收购美高梅国际酒店集团，部分原因就在于后者拥有人工智能难以轻易颠覆的实体资产和线下体验。随着消费者越来越愿意为那些需要投入时间、亲自到场的体验支付溢价，创业者也迎来了机会，可以去打造那些技术难以轻易复制的场所、商业形态和体验。下一轮重大的创新浪潮，或许并不在于让现实世界变得更像数字世界。而可能在于让我们重新想要回到现实世界。