Sundance 2024 | Movie Review: "Eternal You" Brings Crucial Questions About AI To The Forefront of Sundance Conversations
6/12 ForReel Score | 2.5/5 Stars
Eternal You seems to set out to accomplish one goal, and that's to ensure mankind is asking all the necessary questions about AI’s role in one of the most sacred aspects of humanity. In this sophomore feature documentary collaboration, directors Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck further entrench themselves in the world of tech, following the stories of people attempting to recapture the memory of a deceased loved one through the use of AI.
The duo’s debut feature, The Cleaners which also had its premiere at Sundance in 2018, focused on internet cleaning and the intentionally influential effect that has on internet users. Both subject matters - online content manipulation and AI replication of dead people - come with an air of dystopian tech overreach - subjects ripe for exploitation on a Black Mirror episode. But what makes Eternal You so enthralling is how ambiguous the morality of the usage of this technology is and the questions that arise on every level of scrutiny. These musings are what keeps Eternal You wholly engrossing, even if the presentation itself isn’t as attention grabbing.
Image courtesy of Sundance
The technology in question is called Project December, a software that uses AI technology to artificially revive someone who has passed away. The tech uses some samples of their communication style and a vast data set of human to human communication to synthesize a loved one in the afterlife; while the person remains deceased, the software can simulate their likeness in a manner that can be deemed believable enough to the user.
Pitch the premise of Eternal You to anyone you know and more than likely, you’ll be met with an immediate response of apprehension about - perhaps even disgust for - the idea (yes, I have already seen this play out with people who I’ve told about this film). But the reaction makes sense. Using artificial intelligence to, in essence, hijack human emotion is a very controversial idea, and Eternal You lays that uncomfortable notion out in full frontal fashion. Through the stories of Project December early adopters and others affiliated with AI technology, audiences observe many angles of the topic. What does this tech mean for the wellbeing of the user? How are skeptical loved ones of the user supposed to feel about their belief in it? Is it ethical to make money off of such an emotionally entangled product? And how will it be regulated?
The layers that exist in unpacking the effects of AI and the unintended consequences run deep, and with an empathetic eye on AI afterlife users, Eternal You leans into both the pros and cons of what technology like this could mean for the future of humanity and how we go about managing - and monetizing - emotional connections. With that in mind, Eternal You may very well be one of the most important documentaries to debut at Sundance this year. Block and Riesewieck present a timely and challenging subject matter that anyone in the modern world will very likely have an opinion about.
After all, programs like ChatGPT and integrated personal assistance have already scratched the surface of what AI can offer in the general public, but the newness of it resembles a small corner of a vast sandbox full of wondrous opportunities and devastating pitfalls. Eternal You doesn't set out to explore the whole sandbox - no 90 minute documentary possibly can or should - but in following its subjects as they pioneer the use of this technology to artificially revive their deceased loved ones, the most pressing quandaries naturally arise, setting the stage for audiences to begin asking hard questions about what the future of tech and AI development should look like.
Eternal You may not be satisfyingly creative or innovative with its presentation, but the film certainly accomplishes its objective of being an effective conversation piece. Regardless of one's perspective on the film, most engaged audiences will likely be compelled to discuss the merits of AI in replicating consciousness when the film is over, and as long as audiences can civilly and empathetically engage in that conversation, then perhaps the future of humanity’s relationship with technology can remain a positive one.
Acting/Casting - 2 | Visual Effects and Editing - 1 | Story and Message - 2 | Entertainment Value - 0 | Music Score and Soundtrack - 0 | Reviewer’s Preference - 1 | What does this mean?