# Leveraging AI-Generated Emotional Self-Voice to Nudge People towards their Ideal Selves

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.11531 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.11531/

## Key facts

- Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 17 Sep 2024.

## Built on by (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [Future You: Designing and Evaluating Multimodal AI-generated Digital Twins for Strengthening Future Self-Continuity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.06106/) (2025)
- [Simulating Life Paths with Digital Twins: AI-Generated Future Selves Influence Decision-Making and Expand Human Choice](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.05397/) (2025)
- [InnerPond: Fostering Inter-Self Dialogue with a Multi-Agent Approach for Introspection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.27563/) (2026)
- [Toward Natural and Companionable Virtual Agents via Cross-Temporal Emotional Modeling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.15812/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Emotions, shaped by past experiences, significantly influence decision-making and goal pursuit. Traditional cognitive-behavioral techniques for personal development rely on mental imagery to envision ideal selves, but may be less effective for individuals who struggle with visualization. This paper introduces Emotional Self-Voice (ESV), a novel system combining emotionally expressive language models and voice cloning technologies to render customized responses in the user's own voice. We investigate the potential of ESV to nudge individuals towards their ideal selves in a study with 60 participants. Across all three conditions (ESV, text-only, and mental imagination), we observed an increase in resilience, confidence, motivation, and goal commitment, and the ESV condition was perceived as uniquely engaging and personalized. We discuss the implications of designing generated self-voice systems as a personalized behavioral intervention for different scenarios.