AI & Well-Being: Can AI Make You Happy in the City

Happinesshappiness and well-being have been high goals in society for a long time, and various cultures have interpreted these notions in a variety of ways. These interpretations have led to long-running debates as well as more formal, practical and evidence-based models, such as Smart Dubai’sDubai ABCDE model of happinesshappiness needs (covering people’s needs; Affective, Basic, Cognitive, Deeper and Enabling), as well as larger scales, as described by the Happy Cities Agenda, a model that illustrates the various design actions and enabling themes that promote a happier city that is Socially Smart. However, practitioners have always looked for ways of improving happiness in efficient and consistent ways. To this end, much research has focused on these goals by creating and developing tools, be they social or otherwise, to increase happinesshappiness. More recently, information technologytechnology has helped society in achieving its goals in general, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the latest development in this domain, which uses data along with advanced algorithmsalgorithm in order to make even bigger leaps, by allowing machines to undertake tasks typically requiring human intelligenceintelligence. Advances in AI have spanned a wide variety of applications, including well-being, health and wellness. These applications have revealed themselves in various ways, where they are woven into everyday tasks to help people achieve more efficient and better-quality outcomes, or have been embodied by the various robots and devices that are appearing in homes and workplaces. This chapter attempts to make sense of the connections and relationship between these various manifestations and mapping them to the way that happinesshappiness and well-being are understood in the various contexts of people’s lives. Drawing on examples from DubaiDubai, and other global initiatives, this pragmatic approach aims to find the utility of AI towards happier lives from various perspectives, offering directions for further work to ensure a wider coverage for all aspects of well-being.