He has cancer — so he made an AI version of himself for his wife after he dies
Michael Bommer likely only has a few weeks left to live.
A couple of years ago, he was diagnosed with colon cancer. The doctors told him it was terminal.
"A year ago, I sat with my wife in one of these more teary-eyed exercises, talking about what comes. And my wife said, 'Hey, one of the things I will miss most is being able to come to you, ask you a question, and you will sit there and calmly explain the world to me,'" he said.He posted online, telling his friends it was time to say goodbye. Then his friend called him up, saying he had an opportunity at his company Eternos.Life for Bommer to build an interactive AI version of himself.
Bommer immediately said yes, and his wife, Anett, was all in, too. They shared with Consider This host Mary Louise Kelly the journey they went on with this project.
This reminds me a bit of the thing I only learned from watching the Pixar movie Coco - that the Mexicans (carrying on an Aztec belief) say you die twice, the last time being when no one remembers you anymore. (Some accounts seem to say 3 times - the first being when you learn you are mortal.)
Well, in future, I guess it may be when no bothers activating your AI version - or wipes it from the hard drive, I guess!
Yeah, that’s very creepy. No, I don’t want a digital golem mimicking me after I die.
ReplyDeleteA year or so back I remember some expert saying we should start explicitly forbidding AI copies of ourselves in our wills, and I see now what he means.
(Apologies, for strange reasons commenting isn’t always easy on my phone and I accidentally posted this on the previous post).
Your attention to detail (moving a comment) is appreciated by the blog's operational team. :)
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I can't delete the original misplaced comment!
ReplyDeleteI thank the blog's operational team profusely!
ReplyDeleteWhat is happening when I comment on my phone is that the comments default to another google account I have access to. And when I try to re-sign back in to my ordinary google account, it won't let me!