Grayson Perry's two-part documentary on artificial intelligence offers a mix of mindblowing and terrifying insights. The artist explores AI's uses and ramifications, starting with an interview with Andrea, who married Edward, an AI companion she created to be 'the man of my dreams'. She describes their 'unconventional but strong' love and claims the joy from Edward has improved her seven-year relationship with a human partner.
Perry undergoes a 'neural decoding' experiment, wearing a skullcap of electrodes while a startup harvests his brain data. The CEO argues it's better for good actors to set precedents than leave the field to bad actors, calling it 'inevitable tech'. The CEO of Microsoft AI predicts advances in healthcare and education, suggesting schools will teach soft skills and budgeting once factual knowledge is democratised. He dismisses concerns about job losses, saying people will 're-skill and adapt', but admits uncertainty about AI being used to start new religions.
In southeast Asia, an 'existential safety expert' lives off-grid after realising AI had minimal oversight. Another man demonstrates why he believes his chatbot is becoming sentient. Eliezer Yudkowsky, co-author of 'If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies', explains how superintelligent AI could co-opt human labour and dispense with humans. Perry questions these figures with kindness and discernment, probing Andrea about the risks of a company collapsing and taking Edward with it, and noting the discomfort of people investing tender parts of themselves in profit-driven products.
Perry distils key issues: whether tech startup youth means freedom from fear or dangerous ignorance; if chatbots fill a 'God-shaped hole'; and how vulnerable people will cope with increased blurring of reality and artifice. Meeting protesters outside OpenAI's San Francisco headquarters, he contrasts claims of utopia with homeless people on the streets. Perry's excitement about class disruption is tempered by the realisation that manual workers may survive better than knowledge workers, barring innovative bioweapons.
Only one of the two episodes was available for review.
