Science & Tech
Harry Fletcher
Apr 11, 2023
content.jwplatform.com
Scientists believe that humans could be able to upload the consciousness of their loved ones to an AI platform by the end of the year.
According to computer scientist Dr Pratik Desai, there’s a “100 per cent chance” humans could soon end up “living with you forever” as technology advances.
Desai is known for his work in AI, having set up his own ChatGPT-like system, and he thinks it’s time for people begin filming and recording their loved ones in order to make it a reality.
According to him, uploading consciousness to computers will be a very real concept by the end of 2023.
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He tweeted: “Start regularly recording your parents, elders and loved ones. With enough transcript data, new voice synthesis and video models, there is a 100 per cent chance that they will live with you forever after leaving physical body.
“This should be even possible by end of the year.”
\u201cStart regularly recording your parents, elders and loved ones. With enough transcript data, new voice synthesis and video models, there is a 100% chance that they will live with you forever after leaving physical body. This should be even possible by end of the year.\u201d— Pratik Desai (@Pratik Desai) 1680978408
If you think that sounds like something out of a Black Mirror episode, you’d be exactly right.
The idea was the basis behind the episode ‘Be Right Back’, which starred Domhnall Gleeson and Hayley Atwell back in 2013.
It focused on a young woman who loses her husband in a freak accident. She then decides to seek help through AI, which analyses his digital footprint and distils his personality traits into a programme she can communicate with.
Social media users pointed out the parallels to the episode, and Desai responded some time later having watched the episode and seemingly been affected by it.
He tweeted: “Saw the Black Mirror episode everyone is suggesting. I get it now. It’s [a] very personal issue and I sincerely apologize for hurting anyone’s feeling.”
He added: “Sometimes when you see technology making it possible in your grief process and you think it is possible, you may go out of character and say something without a thinking seriously. I’m not a ghoul not I have desire to make any product like this.”
\u201cSometimes when you see technology making it possible in your grief process and you think it is possible, you may go out of character and say something without a thinking seriously. I\u2019m not a ghoul not I have desire to make any product like this.\u201d— Pratik Desai (@Pratik Desai) 1680978408
It’s not an isolated idea, either. The tweet from Desai comes just days after another computer expert explained how people will be able to ‘live on’ after death by 2050 thanks to powerful AI technology.
Speaking to the Mail Dr Ajaz Ali, head of business and computing at Ravensbourne University, claimed that in the future humans may be able to upload a ‘digital twin’ of themselves that will capture their looks and personality.
The ‘twin’ will be captured from the living person using recordings, analysis of their digital footprint and things like motion capture and images of them.
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