In the 1960s, science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke coined the useful maxim that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” He was right, as evidenced by the almost mystical reverence with which people tend to describe artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT. I know it's just software. I also had some understanding of how the program worked. But it's so advanced that it feels creepy — I like it. I know I treat it with respect and a little fear, as if it were God and not a creation.
And we increasingly rely on AI to answer the kinds of questions and satisfy the kinds of longings that religion once answered. That's the subject of a new documentary “Eternal you” (Available on demand, directed by Hans Block and Moritz Rieswiek).
As the title suggests, Eternal You primarily focuses on a very specific use of AI to give users the illusion of talking to their deceased loved ones. Large-scale language models trained on the deceased's speech patterns and chat logs can mimic the way that person communicates so well that a grieving person can feel as though they were alive. It felt like I was crossing the border of death. These tools are a comfort, but they can also potentially be big business. One of the film's themes calls it “dead capitalism.”
The first time I saw “To You Eternal'' was a year ago during a festival, but when I watched it again recently, I was surprised to realize how much it had changed in such a short period of 12 months. I did. We learned about our AI friends, AI partners, or just being introduced. Our social media feeds are now full of people who aren't human at all, and Meta has announced plans to systematically create them on its platform. The idea that you could make a lot of money by pretending to be a dead person and having them chat seemed a little strange to me a year ago, but I'm now convinced that I was wrong.
The subjects of “Forever You” range from bereaved families to skeptics to software creators. Some people like this experience. Others find it very disturbing. But more interesting is the question of animating the documentary. It's not about whether it's ethical to try to talk to the dead, it's about whether it's ethical for software companies to sell their “abilities.” As eminent sociologist Shelly Turkle says in the film, AI is “a wonderful device that knows how to trick you into thinking something is up.” There There. “
After all, “eternal you” doesn't actually conquer death. Broad and somewhat rambling, it explores the desperation of humans to find meaning in life wherever possible, and the rush by companies to fill the gap, inspiring religious devotion even in the experts who make the tools. It describes how things are going. But it also feels like a warning. The other person is not your loved one at all. And it's not magic either.