I've seen all sorts of movies about Artificial Intelligence since it became a hot topic a few years ago, from rabidly pro-AI ones to vehemently anti-AI stories, but Eternal You is probably the most balanced of them that I've seen so far.
Eternal You is a look at various companies and groups that are using AI as a way to digitally revive dead loved ones. After playing at prestigious film festivals like Sundance, Hot Docs and the UK's Sheffield Doc Fest (where I first saw it), the BBC will be showing at as part of Storyville on Tuesday, October 29. It currently stands at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes.
You might be wondering what I mean, "AI as a way to digitally revive dead loved ones" and don't worry, it's not literal. It's about using tech to digitally recreate someone.
One example of a method used by a company to 'bring back the dead' shown early on in Eternal You is by a text-based chat bot, which scans social media posts from a dead person in order to replicate their style of texting. Another later on uses virtual reality to create computer generated children that run around you. The methods run the gamut from low-key texting to full-on experiences like this.
After reading that synopsis, you probably had a strong reaction, whether it be in wonderment at just how far technology has come, or in repulsion at what modern technology is being used to do.
But that's what's great about Eternal You: its balance. The movie doesn't put a firm foot down in favor or opposition of Artificial Intelligence (although it seems to come close at times), instead simply showing you what it's being used to do, and letting you make up your own mind.
Part of that is that the doc doesn't just look at the technologies, but the people pioneering and creating them. One tech creator seems intent in ignoring the ethical ramifications of his chat bot, despite issues raised by his friend, and just wants to fly drones instead. Another man is seemingly trying to cope with a messy break-up, and he elicited a laugh in my screening when people noticed that his computer monitor was propped up by a stack of raunchy magazines.
By showing the technologies alongside the troubled people who created them, Eternal You solidifies itself as an honest and nuanced look at AI. Sure, tools like ChatGPT, Gemini or Grammarly may seem like magical intelligence machines, but they were all created by humans and therefore have a little piece of that creator in everything they put out. That would make AI seem negative, but it's not all so.
One moment that stays with me is a woman sobbing uncontrollably at the digital recreation of her deceased daughter; to the outsider, this image looks like an incredibly creepy artificial creation, but from the mother's reaction we can see that it still has meaning to her.
Is it morbid that this woman is having such a strong emotional reaction to a digital character, or heartwarming? That's for you to decide.
You can watch Eternal You on TV on BBC Four, where it'll play at 10 pm on Tuesday, October 29. If you can't watch it then, it'll be shown on iPlayer shortly afterwards and you can find its landing page here.
