In the first half of 2024, it always gives people a sense of stepping into the first year of cyber with half a foot.
Anyone who has played Cyberpunk 2077 knows that the Arasaka Corporation in the game has an experimental project called "Protect Your Soul".
The result is a biochip called Relic that stores human will.
The purpose of this chip is to allow users to communicate with their deceased loved ones, so that death is no longer an insurmountable chasm.
Nowadays on the Internet, crossing death has become magical realism.
Recently, there have been a lot of videos circulating on the Internet about the "AI resurrection" of deceased public figures.
The most widely circulated is the video related to Coco Li.
In the video, Coco Li is wearing unfamiliar clothes and sitting in an unfamiliar space;
But her smile and voice are still the same, and her smile gives people a very familiar feeling.
She not only greeted her fans, but also thanked everyone for missing her, and even read out the screen names of some fans.
Seeing this, Coco Li, who was "resurrected" by AI, has completely contradicted her vividly in my memory.
When the resurrection of AI becomes a form of remembrance, the reshaped public figure seems to blur the line between life and death;
It's true that it's true that it's true, but I'm not impressed.
Instead, it's more of a farce to offend Coco Lee.
Some time ago, the "AI resurrection" was in an uproar on the Internet.
In addition to Coco Li, there are many public figures who have achieved digital immortality in the hands of technology bloggers, such as Leslie Cheung, Qiao Renliang, Gao Yixiang and many others.
The whole Internet is like a giant electronic mourning hall.
When the phrase "when you die, everyone will come to love you" is true again;
But there's one of the deadliest problems: copyright.
Last month, Gao Yixiang's former agent conveyed to the media the attitude of Gao Yixiang's family towards the AI resurrection video.
The next day, Qiao Renliang's father also made it clear that he wanted to be taken off the shelves as soon as possible after seeing the video of Qiao Renliang being resurrected.
A few days ago, Coco Li's mother also asked to take down the video related to "AI resurrection Coco Li".
When the whole network is mourning in cyber, the attitude of the deceased's family without exception is:
Not comfortable, not acceptable, not authorized.
Indeed, when you click on the video, it is not difficult to find that although the protagonists of this type of video are different, the pattern is almost the same.
Without exception, it is a self-introduction, cordial greetings, and finally an expression of missing the fans.
The public figures who have been resurrected by AI seem to be carved out of a mold.
Qiao Renliang and Coco Li who were "resurrected" by AI|Image source network
The first time I look at it, I can really achieve the effect of being fake, but I can't help but feel uncomfortable after watching too much.
Because as everyone here knows, they're gone.
The "people" who speak and move in the video are nothing more than cold data.
Bloggers on the internet who make AI resurrection videos reshape the deceased without the authorization of their families;
This is not only a secondary injury to the family, but also a blasphemy against the deceased himself.
Their smiles, words and deeds are like products under the assembly line of a factory for onlookers.
Or, to put it more bluntly, like an electronic pet.
Moreover, it is still an electronic pet without authorization and pirated copycats.
The development of AI does show the rapid development of science and technology, but it also vaguely reveals the hidden abyss of human nature.
Under the impetus of star benefits, the track of AI "resurrecting" relatives has long become a hot business.
Search for AI resurrection on e-commerce platforms or even short video platforms, and many stores that provide this type of business will appear.
Image source network
I believe you have seen a lot of words related to "let old photos speak" and "regret! miss!" to guide people to buy and consume.
The concept of "resurrecting relatives with AI can make up for regrets" conveyed by such stores has of course become a way to grasp consumers.
The cheapest is only a dozen yuan, a photo, and you can get a short video from a "digital relative" in half a day.
Image source network
For many people, the AI "resurrection" of their loved ones is the only way to find that family affection that can no longer be obtained, and it is also an aid for them to forget the past.
It is understandable to resurrect loved ones, and it is understandable that relatives use them to express their grief.
Some time ago, musician Bao Xiaobai used AI technology to resurrect his daughter who died early in the digital world.
Inclusive Digital Life Video|Sina Entertainment
His daughter, Rong Rong, died of a rare blood disease at the age of 22.
In the last two years of life, the whole body is full of tubes;
The trachea is cut open and unable to make a sound, and only three fingers can move the whole body.
When we stay out of the matter, we can still say that it is better to leave in style than to survive in pain;
For Bao Xiaobai, as a middle-aged father who lost his daughter, his world has been raining continuously.
Bao Xiaobai gradually faded out of the public eye because of his daughter's death, and when he saw him again, he grew long hair;
Because a certain part of the hair has been touched by her daughter.
Bao Xiaobai has long hair when he reappears|"Celebrity Face to Face"
Missing his daughter has become an indelible obsession for him.
However, this pain has become controllable under the creation of digital life.
Bao Xiaobai reconstructed his daughter's voiceprint and memory bank, uploaded it to the virtual human software, and constructed his daughter's digital life.
is different from cutting leeks on e-commerce platforms that can only let old photos speak;
Bao Xiaobai is able to interact with her daughter in the digital life in the cloud.
Bao Xiaobai's inclusive dialogue with AI|Image source network
As long as the cloud is not turned off, my daughter will always be there.
In Bao Xiaobai, AI has truly become a tool for sustenance.
However, today's AI resurrection track is in a gray area between law and reason.
If you dig deeper into those accounts that use AI resurrection as the main video content, it is not difficult to find that almost all of them are supported by professional teams.
On the surface, it attracts traffic with the labels of "love", "remembrance", and "making up for regrets", but behind it, it is recruiting apprentices and agents.
Recruit agent product link|source watermark
Use AI to resurrect deceased public figures, drain, charge, and make profits;
It is not only the consumption of the deceased, but also the product of the violation of the human rights of the deceased.
Technology is not guilty, just like helping Bao Xiaobai and many other people get out of the pain of the death of their loved ones.
But in the absence of authorization, AI resurrection stars have become the blade of money.
Warmth is a disguise, and interests are the essence.
When it comes to digital life, it is inevitable to think of the futuristic world in cyberpunk.
In recent years, cyberpunk has evolved into a way of thinking about the human soul and its container.
Related films, television, and game works often emphasize the difference between humans and androids at the beginning.
For example, the story of the movie "Blade Runner" began because humans chased down androids;
The androids who produce thoughts and feelings are destined to be erased by humans, and the way to distinguish humans from androids is an emotional test.
Decker's android test of Rachel |
For example, in the more well-known movie "The Wandering Earth 2", Tu Hengyu uploaded his daughter who died early as a digital life.
Before Tu Hengyu enabled 550w, the line "Yaya's life is only two minutes" appeared repeatedly in the film.
The life of a digital girl is only two minutes|"The Wandering Earth 2"
At the last moment of his life, Tu Hengyu asked Yaya to remember all the passwords on the password stick as if he had finally admitted defeat.
Humans will never be able to remember a 30,000-bit key in an instant, but digital life can.
Yaya retells the network key|"The Wandering Earth 2"
For example, the anime "Cyberpunk Edgerunner", which is adapted from the game, also has the premise that humans replace their flesh with more tenacious and powerful mechanical prosthetics.
As the proportion of the "mechanical" part increases, the part belonging to the "human" gradually disappears;
In the end, it became the tragedy of "cyber psychosis" who did not recognize the six relatives.
Pila, who was shot in the head by cyberpsychiatric psychosis|"Cyberpunk Edgerunner"
Digital life does mean never withering.
At the same time, digital life also means a loss of emotion.
So, what is it to be a human being, and what is a living?
The deceased would rather be remembered than "resurrected" by data.
Just like a salted fish seller named "Qiansi Fox" last year, his deeds touched countless people on the Internet.
Image source network
Qiansi Fox, who suffers from a rare disease, is proficient in model making and 3D printing;
When he died at the age of 25 due to heart problems, his mother inherited his hobbies and career.
Image source network
Middle-aged women over half a hundred years old learned C4D modeling and 3D spraying from scratch;
once again supported his son's small shop on Xianyu, and began to study related topics such as two-dimensional, cyberpunk, etc.
His story also reached the production company of Cyberpunk 2077.
As Chitera Kitsune's favorite game, the production company turned him into a repairman who made prosthetics for cyberpunks.
Image source network
And only Qiansi Fox's mother knows that her son Niu Niu will never come back.
Source: Qiansi Fox Mother Account
The reason why life is splendid and great is that he has lived his life in a short and limited time;
Life is immortal because it can not be forgotten.
To paraphrase a well-known phrase from Night City in Cyberpunk 2077:
"There is no living legend, only love that never dies. ”
Digital resurrection is not immortality in the true sense of the word, just as mimetic life cannot be called real life.
Coming back to the topic of AI being misused in deceased public figures, I find that everyone seems to care more about "resurrection" than "reinvention".
Imagine that a photo and a phone call recording can generate a portrait and voice model;
After this process, does the survival status of the infringed person still matter?
If it is used on the living, replicants with the same face and the same voice can also appear online;
It's just that what is said and done will be at the personal will of the video maker.
As long as there is technology, you can control it at will, and you can become someone else's electronic pet through AI without dying at all.
What will be the consequences if AI continues to be allowed to be abused?
Today is the resurrection of the dead, and tomorrow may be the reinvention of the living.
The original intention of AI development is to benefit mankind, not to become a tool for unscrupulous merchants to make money.
Dust to dust, dust to dust, what should go, should not stay.
"Blade Runner"|Image source Douban