[ExI] Storyville: Eternal You

[efc at disroot.org]

On Wed, 30 Oct 2024, BillK via extropy-chat wrote:

> I've just watched on BBC TV the documentary "Eternal You" about
> creating digital copies of people that have died. The bereaved people
> seemed to find comfort in talking to the deceased. But the ethics of
> the companies creating these AI personas seem to be very dubious.
> Talking to the dead raises profound existential questions. These LLMs
> can be unpredicable in what they say in such a personal situation.
> It is a very moving and important review of AI developments.
>
> Short review and video clip here:
> <https://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/the-passionate-eye/what-s-the-first-thing-you-say-to-someone-that-s-dead-this-ai-app-lets-you-chat-with-the-deceased-1.7338847>
>
> In the UK, it is available to watch on the BBC iPlayer system and may
> be available in other countries.

I listened to a similar program on BBC radio. In that program, they 
interviewed a programmer from the US who trained an AI on his dead wifes 
email correspondence, and started to chat with it, since he had difficulty 
coping with the loss.

He said that it did help him work through the loss and move on with life, 
but he also said that given the nature of the training and AI, there are 
no guarantees.

Sadly I could not hear the discussion after his story, since my wife 
wanted to listen to the Jazz-station and thought it was boring, so as the 
husband I am, the jazz-channel it was. ;)

Best regards,
Daniel