Maybe A.I. is just Media

Artificial intelligence is perhaps best defined as a new technology for human communication.

A simple depiction of AI as a communication medium. In many cases, there is more than one person on either side of the medium.

“Chat with the dead” apps still creep me out a bit, and my knee-jerk reaction is to treat them as dystopian technologies that we should banish while we have the chance.

You may be familiar with the premise: compile enough text messages, videos, and/or voice recordings from a dead person, and let a computer program use those materials to simulate a digital version of the dead person.

Photo from HereAfter, an AI tool that lets you “record the life story of someone you love.”

But despite my initial skepticism, I recently started thinking of these apps through a different lens. I wouldn’t scoff at someone reading old letters written by a dead relative, or watching videos of a friend who passed away. Why would listening to voice recordings be any different?

Sure, these apps are more than voice recordings — more advanced versions might splice together soundbites, synthesize new quotes, converse in real time, and more. But in many cases, “chat with the dead” apps like HereAfter are simply embellished voice recording apps. This led me to wonder if other forms of AI could be understood as simple…