One of the things that science fiction has done since its beginnings is to think about what the future would be like. Some of these predictions have not come true, as shown by the fact that we do not have the flying cars or skateboards that Back to the Future II imagined as normal for the year 2015. Others, however, we do already see, such as the video calls and wearables from that same movie. What is or was the technology of the future like according to film and television?
Here: The Limits of AI Assistants
A lonely man, played by Joaquin Phoenix, and a new operating system on his devices (on his computer, on his mobile phone, on his headphones) that talks to him as if it were a real person (her name is Samantha, it says). The parallels we can find with current AI assistants are not a coincidence: Sam Altman, co-founder of OpenAI, has confessed that the film inspired him to create the ChatGPT assistant function. He even tried to get Scarlett Johansson to lend her her voice; when she refused, they used an impersonator. Just like in the movie, in real life, there have been many cases of users falling in love with their bot. Also recognisable is something that hardly attracts attention anymore: the protagonist lives in a smart home.
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Minority Report and biometric technologies
The most memorable image from this adaptation of Philip K. Dick is Tom Cruise, who plays the protagonist, moving images on giant screens with his hands encased in special gloves. That user interface that works through gesture technology already exists (Microsoft Kinect was one example), but there’s more. The film features personalised advertising (using a different method than current advertising), biometric technologies such as iris scanning, newspapers that update themselves…
The central argument, the ability to predict who will commit a crime—and all the ethical implications of that knowledge—is also present: in the film, it’s not through technology, but through people with “precognitive” abilities; in the real world, AI already decides who will be a good employee for a given position and could be used to form some kind of crime prevention unit, but the problems it would entail (errors, ethics, etc.) mean that, if it is being developed, it is not being announced as such.
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Black Mirror and the customer experience
Any episode of Black Mirror serves to show how far technology can take society, but perhaps Nosedive, from the third season, is one of those that most puts us in front of that black mirror: everyone can rate with stars any person they interact with, which will affect their social and economic status.
Outside of the series, similar initiatives are already emerging: in China, Zhima Credit evaluates users based on payments made through AliPay or interactions and posts on social media; the result can determine whether or not you are granted a loan. Closer to home: the ubiquitous customer experience surveys that ask you to rate with stars the person who brought you food, gave you a ride, or treated you at the hospital.
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Upload and eternal life
Set in the year 2033, this series presents a world in which, thanks to technology, we can “upload” our consciousness to a platform after our death and continue living there. Of course, there is a premium version and a freemium version, with limited time and ads. Although that reality seems distant, there is already an entire industry (DAI, Digital Afterlife Industry) focused on allowing living people to stay in touch with those who have died through chatbots that mimic them and even virtual reality.
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