AI researchers build ‘future self’ chatbot to inspire wise life choices

Exclusive: Scientists at MIT hope talking to 60-year-old self will shift thinking on health, money and work

If your carefully crafted life plan has been scuppered by sofa time, bingeing on fast food, drinking too much and failing to contribute to the company pension, it may be time for a chat with your future self.

Without ready access to a time machine, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have built an AI-powered chatbot that simulates a user's older self and dishes out observations and pearls of wisdom. The aim is to encourage people to give more thought today to the person they want to be tomorrow.