Opinion Real versus virtual. Stolen versus synthesized. The blurring of lines between synthetic and stolen is a result of the generative AI. Now, it’s gaining traction in the battle between life and death.
Right now, the big topic in grieftech (as we must learn to name this new frontier) is how to protect against generative grave-robbing. It’s difficult enough for the living people to protect their digital existence. What happens after death is an entirely different ballgame. Recently, there have been calls for clarification and reform of the law regarding who decides the fate of the digital afterlife. The rulesare fragmentary, complicated and largely unformed.
A thoughtful, sober debate is needed to determine the best mix of individual rights and public capabilities for individuals, commerce, and society. We won’t get this, not in the US, and not in the coming years. It will be a free-for-all, a merry shindig for the powerful, and the preferred.
This would be enough if this was the only complex consequence of grieftech. It’s not. It’s not the most important. While there are concerns about generative AI used to exploit the dead and virtualize their resurrection, there are far more serious implications if AI is used with permission.
It is normal and expected that the possessions of a deceased person are distributed in accordance with their wishes expressed when they were alive. It becomes more complicated when it comes to intangibles, such as intellectual property rights that have limited validity after death, and especially with likenesses or distinctive voices. James Earl Jones gave Lucasfilm the rights to his voice, allowing it to profit from the AI-generated Darth Vader voice in perpetuity. Details are not public.
But what if the asset is not the rights but an AI created during the owner’s lifetime? Someone who is so inclined could write a will establishing a trust for their assets to be managed after their death. The only condition would be that the AI version of the asset was consulted. It’s not that far from the norms of today, since you can still leave your fortunes to organizations that you agree with. You’ll simply be creating a trust where you have a voice. This is a way to achieve immortality. It’s not a great form of immortality, and it’s certainly less powerful than the one provided to James Earl Jones in the movie, but its power will only increase. It only needs enough money and ego for people to want to maintain control — a combination that is not uncommon among humans — to sell grieftech immortality. Personal behavioral data can already be harvested like Iowa corn. But when you want to use that data to program your AI post-mortem, the industry will go into overdrive. In the US, there’s a wealth of ahref=””https://usafacts.org/answers/how-much-wealth-does-the-american-middle-class-have/country/united-states/””target=””_blank” “>$13 Trillion among middle class individuals. Imagine being told that you can take your money with you when you leave.
The money is so high that it’s impossible that this will not happen. There will be whole industries created to better capture the personality and preferences of the wannabe-immortal. It will be a narcissistic reward system. No matter what the argument against it is – that the data is incomplete, the AI is inaccurate, or the model is too rigid to accurately reflect humans – there will be fixes and new features added. There are many opportunities to specialize.
- LLM bots are trivial to weaponize to steal data, say experts
- UK police facial recognition program expands with 10 new vans coming to a city near you
- My digital privacy began to be compromised in 1974 when I was 11 years old
- Suetopia Generative AI: A lawsuit waiting to happen for your business
There is no way to predict the effects of these ideas. Even the most powerful and evil people are subject to death’s regenerative powers. Money goes somewhere else, no matter how much they have. New ideas and new leaders are introduced in organizations. This constant circulation of money, power and consensus keeps the society alive and evolving. Things get worse when it fails.
If AI replicants are stitched in to the management of the estates of the wealthy and powerful, this is what will occur. There is no law that prohibits this. And while any will may be contested, this is a new arena that could disrupt one of the greatest certainty of existence. Orwell said in Nineteen Eighty Four “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever.” that at least the world was governed mortals. Even the worst of them would die. Imagine all the money and power in the world being sucked up by AIs who wish to grant the worst wishes of humanity forever.
Remember. Darth Vader is the first AI immortal in our world. Enjoy the summer. (r)
