Microsoft just went full Black Mirror
Its new AI chatbot patent seems to be taken straight from the dystopian drama series
Black Mirror has a knack for pre-empting technology’s most perverse would-be side-effects, making it a riveting drama series.
Fans of the show may remember the particularly disturbing episode Be Right Back, where wife Martha tragically brings back her late-husband Ash (played with aplomb by Domhnall Gleeson) using AI that mimics his speech patterns and behaviour with data gleaned from his social media accounts and emails.
According to documents from the US Patent and Trademark Office, Microsoft has now been granted a patent that would enable the software company to develop an AI-assisted chatbot using someone’s personal data including ‘images, voice data, social media posts and electronic messages.’ So far, so Black Mirror.
Although the filing for patent – entitled ‘Creating a conversational chatbot of a specific person’ – doesn’t specifically state it will mimic the deceased, the possibility still exists. A statement on the patent alludes to the notion: ‘The specific person may correspond to a past or present entity (or a version thereof), such as a friend, a relative, an acquaintance, a celebrity, a fictional character, a historical figure, a random entity etc.’ Many people noticed the similarity between Microsoft’s offering and the Black Mirror episode, taking to Twitter to voice their opinions.
So Microsoft have filled a patent to develope an AI to revive the dead via voice, social media and other data.
— 💚 Dr_Jevans 💚 (@Dr_Jevans_TTV) January 26, 2021
I'm not sure how I feel about that...
Looks like #blackmirror is becoming a reality.
Microsoft filed a patent to resurrect people as chatbots. @blackmirror called it!!! The creepiest episode turning into reality fvck
— Ryan Refugia (@RyanRefugia_) January 25, 2021
Digitally resurrecting the dead is nothing new – you may remember Kanye West’s gift to wife Kim Kardashian (unless the divorce rumour mill is true), where he presented her with a hologram of her late father Robert Kardashian. West used archive digital footage to mimic Robert’s voice pattern so the hologram could then be programmed to say, ‘Kanye West is the most, most, most, most, most genius man in the whole world.’ Likewise, Tupac, Amy Winehouse and Ronald Reagan have been reincarnated in digital form for ‘live’ performances and museum exhibitions.
So what are the implications of this technology? If you’ve already watched the Netflix series (spoiler alert) you may remember that the main character quickly realises that the digital version of her husband only offered a ‘glimmer’ of his personality – but maybe a glimmer is all a person in mourning needs.