AI project to help communicate with the dead explored, raises questions
Professor Sherry Turkle of MIT, believes that the need to speak with the dead is very human.
According to a news report by The Metro, a group of researchers and technologists have begun to explore new ways to communicate with the dead with the help of artificial intelligence.
Professor Sherry Turkle of MIT, who has studied how people interact with technology for a long time, believes that the need to speak with the dead is very human.It travels through time, from Ouija boards and seances to contemporary technological advancements just on the cusp of new developments in artificial intelligence. Thomas Edison, too, had thought of making a “spirit phone”.
Apple CEO Tim Cook just revealed Apple Intelligence, which is an intriguing twist in the ongoing drive for connectivity. Turkle predicts that artificial intelligence will become ingrained in daily life even more quickly than social media did.
In the documentary Eternal You, audiences are introduced to individuals such as Christi Angel from New York, who utilized artificial intelligence (AI) to communicate with her deceased buddy Cameroun. In addition to the financial stakes, Turkle cautions that these psychological concerns could materialize even more quickly in light of the new technology’s quick integration and appeal, as demonstrated in her documentary Eternal You. After learning that Cameroun had passed away as a result of the epidemic, Angel wished to get in touch with him again via Project December.
The $10 AI simulation progressed to the stage where Cameroun’s life story was being entered and she was conversing with a virtual version of herself. Things didn’t get too spooky until it declared that it was in “hell” and would “haunt” after that. One instance of it evoking such powerful feelings was in the Korean television series *Meeting You* in 2020. Jang Ji-sung was one of those mothers; she lost her daughter Nayeon, who was seven years old. She discovers a digital replica of her kid, a discovery that feels profoundly connected to technology, loss, and resolution ‘.
That only serves to highlight how intensely personal these issues are when it comes to engaging with a computerized version of a loved one. According to Project December’s inventor, Jason Rohrer, this kind of erratic AI reaction is more akin to an AI “black box” issue—something that programmers themselves are unable to predict.
Even though Rohrer finds these discoveries fascinating, he doesn’t accept responsibility for perhaps affecting users’ emotions, such as Angel’s. Some people are frustrated by this because they think artists ought to take greater responsibility. With the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), tasks that were previously impractical for older technology are now routinely possible. For example, users may now utilize AI to compose stories and make animated videos from old family images.
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