photo courtesy of Twitter
A Silicon Valley computer scientist specializing in Artificial Intelligence applications stirred up Twitter with predictions of an unsettling new technology. Dr. Pratik Desai said in his professional opinion that people could “upload” the consciousness of their deceased loved ones by the end of 2023. The April 8 tweet urged people to start recording their loved ones more so that when the technology comes out, they’ll be able to have data to upload.
Dr. Desai wrote in the initial post, “Start 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 your physical body. This should be even possible by the end of the year.”
His tweet suggested that by uploading someone’s “consciousness,” someone would have to compile things like videos, photos, and voice recordings of people who have passed, and AI technology would be able to recreate and simulate having a conversation with that person by learning their mannerisms through the uploaded information.
Desai added with confidence that such a feat could even be possible today. The only thing preventing it from being widespread now is some technicalities and its unreasonably high price point.
The response to Desai’s post was of overwhelming concern as many couldn’t help but draw comparisons to the haunting
Black Mirror episode “Be Right Back” with a similar concept that warns explicitly against allowing AI technology to creep into this territory.Desai eventually backpedaled on his confident opinion because of all of the backlash.