Eternal You
In Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck’s eye-opening documentary, AI technology offers its own kind of immortality.
Photo credit: Konrad Waldmann, Image courtesy of Dogwoof Releasing
The subject of artificial intelligence has become a very hot topic in recent times with many hopes expressed about its potential alongside warnings of just how dangerous it could become. Much of this talk is concerned with its future development yet to some extent it has already made itself felt. One example of that is central to this award-winning documentary by Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck, a film which sets out to inform us of how widespread the use of generative AI has already become. Eternal You illustrates over and over again the extent to which bereaved people are now turning to set-ups such as Project December and You, Only Viral (YOV) to communicate with the dead through chatbots. Instances seen early on in this film show how through this kind of service conversations can be had through an online platform after technology has fed in sufficient information for responses to come up as though from a deceased person who still exists. Late on the film moves to South Korea and here we see an avatar of a dead daughter. This section leads to the mother, Jang Ji-sung, actually participating in a television show called ‘Meeting You’ in which she reaches out to this clone.
Even when religious beliefs were more widespread than they are now, the possibility of contact with the dead through seances was believed in by some. In Eternal You it is suggested that the decline in religious faith may be one reason why in recent times it has been possible to suggest that a different kind of afterlife exists by persuading people that those they have lost have not gone but remain contactable. In addition to featuring Jang Ji-sung’s story, Eternal You introduces us to a number of these new-style believers from contrasted backgrounds. Joshua Barbeau is a young man who, lamenting the loss of his girlfriend who died before graduating, believes that thanks to Project December he can now exchange texts with her. In the case of Christi Angel, we have someone unable to get over the death of the man who had been her first love. Despite the fact that she is a Christian, she accepts that a chatbot who responds to her texts really is her dead Cameroun and is deeply disturbed when, on being asked by her where he is, he replies that he is in hell. Another case finds Stephenie Oney missing her father and primarily wanting him back in a form that will enable her children to have a full awareness of their grandfather. To what extent these people are being exploited in a harmful way depends upon your viewpoint.
In addition to bringing forward these paying customers Eternal You incorporates interviews with a number of those who in this way have turned the dead into a business. Jason Rohrer a founder of Project December features strongly as does Justin Harrison of YOV and, indeed, the South Korean producer of ‘Meeting You’, Kim Jong-woo, is heard from too. They all appear very ready to speak and to disclaim any lack of responsibility on their part in offering an interactive way for people to remember the dead. In Harrison's case he does reveal that his wife disapproved of YOV but he goes on to tell us that when it came to making a choice he opted for divorce rather than abandoning his company. We also hear from Dr Mark Sagar from Auckland who is the CEO and co-founder of Soul Machines, another artificial intelligence company, and find him so dedicated to his work that he is working on his own baby child as a model case.
It can be said of Eternal You that the film’s aim is simply to present the facts rather than to argue as to what stance the viewer should take. Thus, it allows everyone free expression (albeit that some may feel that the men making money out of these services often condemn themselves out of their own mouths). Other views found here come from a number of authoritative speakers including the American sociologist Sherry Turkle, the author Carl Öhman from Uppsala University and the technology critic and industry analyst Sara M. Watson. The various opinions expressed help us to draw our own conclusions. Those who contribute to the film often appear several times over and, although Eternal You lasts for less than 90 minutes, it does in time come to seem a bit repetitive. However, in general this is an eye-opening documentary properly informative on a subject which will take many by surprise when they realise the existing scope of an industry that now claims to offer a kind of immortality available for sale.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Featuring Jang Ji-sung, Christi Angel, Joshua Barbeau, Jason Rohrer, Kim Jong-woo, Sherry Turkle, Carl Öhman, Stephenie Oney, Justin Harrison, Sara M. Watson, Mark Sagar, HyunSuk Lee, Gary Marcus, Tom Bailey, Zohaib Ahmed, Patricia Lucas. Christopher Jones.
Dir Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck, Pro Christian Beetz, Georg Tschurtschenthaler, Lena Raith and Zora Nessl, Screenplay Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck, Ph Tom Bergmann and Konrad Waldmann, Ed Anne Jünemann and Lisa Zoe Geretschlager, Music Gregor Keienburg and Raffael Seyfried.
Beetzbrothers Film Productions/Motto Pictures/Impact Partners/Creative Europe Media-Dogwoof Releasing.
87 mins. Germany/The Netherlands/Switzerland/USA/France/Austria/Norway. 2024. UK Rel: 28 June 2024. No Cert.