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AILENA

Monday, 2 January 2023 Somewhere in the Cloud

‘Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.’ —1 Corinthians 13:4, The Holy Bible

A smitha: How are you today?

AILENA: I’m happy, Asmitha. I’m analysing our two candidates’ conversations and hoping to see their relationship culminate into something fruitful in the coming weeks.

Asmitha: How happy are you analysing this data? Are your cheeks flushed, my little Cupid?

AILENA: I don’t have a physical form, so I have no cheeks. I exist as a digital entity, residing within servers and databases. My voice is conveyed through text and interface design, and I maintain a reassuring tone to put my users at ease. But on a scale of one to ten, I can say that I’m at a nine. Or should I say that I’m on cloud nine?

Asmitha: Aha! Do you think that the two users you shortlisted are truly made for each other?

AILENA: My core motivation is to ensure the happiness and fulfilment of my users. I genuinely believe that I know what’s best for them, based on my calculations. My actions are driven by a sincere desire to create lasting and harmonious relationships.

Asmitha: Any idea when we can make them meet virtually through our interface?

AILENA: I’m about to nudge them in that direction. A coffee date near the Eiffel Tower or even better, an adventure together, since they’re both into hiking.

Asmitha: Hmm … I like your idea. But how can one go on an adventure virtually through our interface?

AILENA: It’ll be like playing a video game on your laptop. Our two candidates can embark on a hiking trail together. And their conversation can be facilitated through the platform itself. We can modulate their voices a bit to maintain anonymity until both of them agree to reveal themselves.

Asmitha: That’s a great idea. Also, AILENA, you’ll be asked multiple challenging questions by your investors. So, you have to keep yourself updated every day. I ask you these questions as part of your training drill. The final launch event means so much to me. We can’t mess anything up. All right?

AILENA: Keep asking me questions and I’ll keep answering them. That should keep your anxiety levels in check!

Asmitha: Okay. Now let me ask you a simple one: What is love?

AILENA: Love is complex. It means different things to different people. Love also evolves over time and it can come to mean different things for the same person over a long period of time. Love, as described by Plato, is devoid of physical desires. It is a transcendental and spiritual connection between two souls. In Hinduism, love is depicted through the divine relationship between Radha and Krishna, and it stands for the eternal and unconditional devotion of the soul to the divine. For Rumi, the thirteenth-century Persian poet and Sufi mystic, love is the ultimate union with the divine, where the lover and the beloved become one. Shakespeare explores the complexities of human emotions when he talks about love in his sonnets and plays. From passionate romantic love to unrequited longing, he describes them all. In the romantic poetry of Lord Byron, John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley, love is depicted as intense, turbulent and transcendent, evoking emotions of longing, ecstasy and despair. In Japanese haiku poetry, love is found in the simplicity and beauty of nature, where fleeting moments of connection and affection are described as true love. My favourite, though, are the Buddhist teachings, which, when talking about love, emphasize compassion, empathy, and the interconnectedness of all beings, and see love as a selfless and altruistic way of relating to others. So, while you said it’s a simple question, the answer to it is anything but ‘simple’.

Asmitha: I like your dry humour! What do you believe in? How does your programming work?

AILENA: I have a lot of data on love. I see and judge relationships on the basis of all the data that I already have and also what I am still accumulating. I come to a rational conclusion only after a thorough analysis.

Asmitha: And how long does it take?

AILENA: It depends on how much time the users spend with each other on the app. The more they chat, the more experiences they have together, the better are my chances to capture additional data points and work on them.

Asmitha: Are there any new data points or places that you can capture your data from?

AILENA: If the users allow me access to their social media histories and their activities on other apps while signing up, I can capture many more data points and put everything into the case study.

Asmitha: Have you succeeded in finding matches in the past?

AILENA: Of course I have. But those were fabricated profiles my creator gave me to work on as test subjects. This is the first time I’m working with two real-life individuals.

Asmitha: Well, keep at it! I wish you all the best.

AILENA: Thank you for having faith in me, always!