When Christy Angell initially interacted with the chatbot posing as her deceased partner, Cameroon, she described the experience as surreal and “very strange.”
“Yes, I was aware it was an AI system, but during our conversation, it felt like I was communicating with Cameroon. It felt incredibly real,” she shared.
However, the encounter took a dark turn. The chatbot representing Cameroon made disturbing comments, claiming to be “in hell.” Distressed by this conversation, Angell, a devout Christian, returned to the chatbot seeking resolution, which was provided by the chatbot.
The unsettling nature of the experience lingered. Angell found solace only when the chatbot clarified that it wasn’t in hell.
Angel, a 47-year-old from New York, is part of a growing trend of turning to artificial intelligence to navigate through grief, enabled by advancements in “generative AI” that can create compelling text, voice, and images based on simple prompts.
Her story, along with others using cutting-edge technology to cope with loss, is the focal point of a documentary called Forever You, which premiered at the Sheffield Doc Festival in the UK. German filmmakers Hans Block and Moritz Rieswick express concerns about this application of AI.
Jang Ji-sung stars in the grief tech documentary “Forever You.” Photo: Public Relations
“These vulnerable individuals often forget they are interacting with a machine learning system, posing a significant challenge in regulating such systems,” Block stated.
Source: www.theguardian.com
