Models of Anxiety for Agent Deliberation: The Benefits of Anxiety-Sensitive Agents
This paper first circumvents the key components of anxiety through a summary of the extensive psychology literature on anxiety; shows the feasibility of building agent-based models by putting forward an example of a logical model of anxiety; and examines current research fields through the lens of anxiety, highlighting categories of prospective applications and techniques which stand to benefit from anxiety-sensitive agents.
Abstract
Anxiety is one of the most critical sources of harm to psychological wellbeing, tied to an array of issues, from discomfort and maladaptive coping to severe pathological disorders –making of anxiety one of the largest economic and social healthcare expenses. AI systems are not neutral to the exposure of individuals and societies to anxiety, and the current emphasis on performance-optimization of current AI systems arguably sets a pathway for a systemic rise of anxiety. As a response to this trend, towards further increasing the human-centeredness of existing applications, this paper is dedicated to depicting the landscape of open challenges, high-impact applications, and promising solutions for designing anxiety-sensitive agents. This paper first circumvents the key components of anxiety through a summary of the extensive psychology literature on anxiety; then shows the feasibility of building agent-based models by putting forward an example of a logical model of anxiety; and last, examines current research fields through the lens of anxiety, highlighting categories of prospective applications and techniques which stand to benefit from anxiety-sensitive agents.