I’m writing this before the September 10 presidential debate to avoid any influence on my perspective. Both candidates are reportedly preparing by using surrogates to stand in for their opponents. This strategy doesn’t always work well and has proven ineffective in previous debates.
The problem with using human surrogates is that unless the person prepares for the role like a professional actor by immersing themselves in the character, their performance, and thus their effectiveness, will be highly unreliable.
Part of the problem is that the stand-in won’t feel as comfortable with the personal attacks on someone they work for, further reducing their effectiveness as a training dummy. However, a simulation tool like Nvidia Omniverse, backed by a conversational AI trained on the opponent’s past behavior and public social media posts, could create a far more accurate emulation of that opponent.
In addition, this capability wouldn’t just be applied to presidential candidates but to people running for lower offices, congressional debates, legal debates in court trials, and discussions between business managers trying to get a part of a budget that can only support one.
Let’s discuss the future of debate preparation. Then, we’ll close with my Product of the Week, smart glasses from Phantom Technology that are due out early next year and are designed to reduce distractions from your smartphone or PC.
Why Winning Debates Is Important
Whether talking about politics, legal fights, or business, the ability to win a debate is important.
One reason that OJ Simpson won his trial was that the opposing counsel brought out a pair of gloves that didn’t fit, and Simpson’s legal team created the brilliant phrase “if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit,” winning them the trial. A mock trial done properly and with an accurate stand-in for OJ could have predicted this and informed the prosecutors that the path they were taking would be catastrophic to their case.
When I was pre-law, I attended moot court. While it was fun, it was different enough from an actual court (which I later attended a lot, both as a juror and a litigant) to make it less useful than it otherwise would have been.
Before Apple created the iPhone, working groups in Palm and Microsoft argued that an iPhone-like phone that focuses on fun stuff for consumers was a future direction for their companies. That debate was lost at Microsoft and resulted in Zune being one of Microsoft’s least successful offerings. That set the foundation for the eventual replacement of Microsoft’s then-CEO, Steve Ballmer (he was on team Zune).
Finally, we all get into debates with our families, neighbors, friends, co-workers, employers, and even our kids. Often, we degrade into anger and threats, resulting in less-than-ideal outcomes, so learning to debate could help us better control our futures. By the way, debate competitions do help, but few participate
Simulated Debates
While I’m focused on Nvidia Omniverse because it is the tool I know, there are other simulation tools. As AI advances, an increasing number of generative AI tools will be able to learn from the public activities of the people you want to convince. You could create more accurate models of juries to increase the win ratios or identify the potential for loss, allowing for a settlement offer that would end with a better result than a trial you can’t win.
When it comes to elections, I still remember the one line that I believe won Ronald Reagan the presidency during his debate with Walter Mondale since Reagan faced questions about his age. It’s still funny today — even Mondale couldn’t help but laugh. That remark resonated far beyond the debate, sparking conversations at our dinner table for weeks; decades later, it’s still a topic we revisit.
However, with political candidates, particularly at the top level, there’s a wealth of information about how they perform at events, debates, conferences, and other public appearances. AI could distill this data into a few variations of how they might answer each likely question. You could even create AI simulations of the debate moderators, allowing for comprehensive dress rehearsals and increasing the chances of a successful debate performance.
I think the first politician or attorney who learns how to use this tool well will be able to dominate their respective fields. But what if both sides use this method?
Wrapping Up
Using a simulation tool like Omniverse will be a game-changer if one side or the other exclusively uses it, but if both sides use it, things get interesting. In effect, you get highly prepared candidates focused on the issues that matter most to the public rather than drifting into irrelevant topics. As a result, the debates become more entertaining, informative, and engaging.
This preparation would also inform debaters if they had a non-winnable argument. Say, for example, you were convinced that most people agreed with you, but the simulated scoring system indicated your position was vastly unpopular. You’d either change your position, lie, or exit the race.
Real-time fact-checking will eventually be available to anyone with a smartphone or PC. I can hardly wait until I can use that tool in my everyday life. There is so much fake information out there. I have been caught three or four times buying into a scam.
Whether we are talking politics, litigation, work, or even our personal lives, platforms where we can practice and refine our arguments without resorting to name-calling or other poor argument techniques could benefit the world. The question is when, not if, it is coming.
Journey Lens Smart Glasses
One of the life-changing things that is coming is AI human enhancement products. These are products backed by AI that can make our lives better. At last week’s Apple event, we saw several products focused on addressing sleep apnea and hearing loss and providing you with a far better Siri experience (it’s about time).
Still, one area no one has addressed is how to improve focus. While there are people with extreme problems in this regard, I think we all have issues with focus, given we are surrounded by tech.
Recently, I was forced to sit at a spa without my phone, and I was able to think through a lot of things that needed thinking through. Our distractions consist of everything from family problems, particularly with children who need to engage face-to-face to learn how to properly engage face-to-face, to traffic accidents because someone can’t resist looking at the phone rather than where they are going.
The coming smart glasses and related application from Phantom Technology — called Journey Lens — is designed to provide a heads-up display, microphone, 2K camera, and speakers. These features enable you to designate critical information so you don’t feel the need to pick up your phone and be distracted by the non-critical stuff going on, like social media, which can be a huge time sink.
Journey Lens smart glasses for focus and wellbeing (Image courtesy of Phantom Technology)
These are some of the least expensive smart glasses in the market at a reasonable $200 (projected price) plus costs for custom lenses. They have far more functionality than the more limited Meta glasses, which lack a display.
The application they will come with is gamified to help train you to be more focused and to avoid distractions you agree are unnecessary. The camera captures what you are seeing, but the app translates the image into a description sent to the cloud if you want to ask a question about what you saw while the image is retained on your phone.
Think of being able to ask about something you are looking at or provide more detailed information about an accident or crime you have observed while preserving the privacy of whom you are looking at. I expect there may still be a problem with using these glasses in secure sites or public restrooms regardless of this protection, suggesting geo-fencing will need to be a near-term enhancement.
Personal technology makes it harder for us to focus, be productive, and get things done. But because we often need to be able to report what we see, like with this event I remember very well, these glasses could make my life more productive, keep me safer, and help me keep others safer by more accurately reporting hazards or crimes. As a result, Journey Lens smart glasses are my Product of the Week.
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