Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, "" is a documentary that explores the emerging (and slightly unsettling) business of "thanabots" (thanatology meets robotics), where AI models are trained to resurrect those who've shuffled off this mortal coil.
In the movie, Christi Angel uses Project December, an AI chatbot, to communicate with a significant other who had passed away. Where is this person? The AI answered: "In hell." This, as you can imagine, was not the response she was expecting.
Jason Rohrer, the brain behind Project December, seems to have a taste for the macabre. He says AI's narrative possibilities – especially ones that "give you goosebumps" – intrigue him because he "likes goosebumps."
However, experts are waving red flags about the psychological impact of these digital séances. It turns out that chatting with an AI version of your late loved one might be more harmful than healing.
That said, I can easily imagine the educational potential here. I've built a few GPTs that embody the knowledge (and assumed personality) of famous scientists, philosophers, and historical figures for my students to explore. It would be fascinating to create an AI version of Stephen Hawking and discuss theoretical physics with it, but you'd have to deeply understand (and communicate) such an app's limitations to the users. It's one thing to build an edutainment app; resurrecting a loved one is something else entirely.
Are you ready to create and interact with a thanabot of a deceased loved one?
As always your thoughts and comments are both welcome and encouraged. Just reply to this email. -s [email protected]
P.S. You know who really hates AI? The middle management mafia. However, there is hope for the “could have been an email” crowd. .
ABOUT SHELLY PALMER
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named he covers tech and business for , is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular . He's a , and the creator of the popular, free online course, . Follow or visit .
