Virtual Dopamine

The pleasure hormone will be produced using a neural network

Evgenia Chernysheva, Naked Science

Dopamine, discovered in 1957, is one of the 20 major neurotransmitters (transmitters) that, like a courier, transmits urgent messages between neurons, nerves and other cells in the body and ensures the smooth operation of all organs. It is also an important part of the brain's "reward system", which causes a sense of satisfaction and affects the processes of motivation and learning. 

However, there are more and more drugs that contribute to increased hormone production and cause addiction along with nicotine, amphetamine and alcohol. The use of stimulants blocks the neural pathways connecting our "pleasure center" with the prefrontal cortex, which reduces the production of dopamine – this forces a person to increase the dose of the substance for pleasure.

"Dopamine is a molecule of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll," says Ramsay Brown, co–founder of Dopamine Labs in California, a rather controversial American startup whose goal is to study the effect of the neurotransmitter on sports, diet and relationships with technology. Ramsey and his colleagues from Dopamine Labs are developing systems that can be implemented into mobile applications and will replace substances that cause addiction, since their functioning is based on encouraging users. To do this, the laboratory uses machine learning: the neural network draws up a reward plan and regularly "encourages" a person with cyberparks in the form of compliments, supportive messages, virtual confetti.

The entire presentation is posted on the developers' website – VM.

For example, if you integrate a new technology into an application for tracking physical activity, it will begin to support a person in every possible way with numerous push notifications, thereby forcing him to work even harder. The same applies to programs for weight loss, efficiency improvement and money management. Perhaps artificial intelligence will be able to provide psychological support in difficult moments.

Currently, developers are considering the ethical basis for using the system. By the way, they have already refused to provide services to several bookmakers and video game manufacturers who wanted to use the capabilities of AI to "recruit" new customers.

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