In the online world, messengers most likely to lie to you may be the ones that look most like you.
That's the eerie, not-so-distant future, according to today's issue of Science. In the journal, Judith Donath, an associate professor at MIT's Media Lab, points out that technology to create more lifelike avatars–digital characters that represent the user online–is getting much better. But, she adds, so is the ability to program behaviors that evoke trust.
And that inevitably means the people creating spam email and fake Web sites to trick you out of your bank account number will be sending you avatars designed to make you turn over that number. Or, less criminal but still insidious, advertising avatars designed to sell you products.
How does this work? Start with facial expressions. Donath points out that in real life, people sometimes look away when they are lying. Why? Making up a story uses a lot of brainpower, and so does looking at someone's face and interpreting their expressions. So liars, to keep their concentration, may look away.
It would be easy, Donath says, to program an avatar to look you–or your avatar–in the eye. That would help it gain your trust. There are other tricks, too. She cites research showing that people in a group paid closer attention to messages delivered by an avatar with a "team face"–an avatar designed with facial features that resembled their own.
This raises "the specter of a world in which you are bombarded with oddly compelling ad campaignspresented by people just like you," she writes. –Josh Fischman
