When Jason Rohrer, the founder of Project December, is asked about this disturbing episode, he shrugs it off. He’s not responsibility for the technology he’s unleashed, he says, while admitting he doesn’t even fully grasp how it works.
“I am also interested in the spookier aspect of this,” he admits. “When I read a transcript like that and it gives me goosebumps, I
like goosebumps.”
Filmmakers Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck have crafted a sprawling portrait of the emerging business that is digital afterlife technology, interviewing everyone from tech founders and users to psychologists and AI ethicists to examine whether there are any potential benefits to it related to helping human beings process
grief, and of course, the potential downsides.
With popular AI programs like
ChatGPT creating “thanobots” made up of the digital communications of loved ones that allow you to talk to them after they’ve left this mortal coil, and
Microsoft and
Amazon filing patents for AI-fueled digital afterlife services, it’s important that we assess this technology before it’s too late.