Sundance 2024 Review: ‘Eternal You’ Traverses the Intersection of Technological Innovation and Ethical Responsibility

If you had a chance to talk to someone that died that you love, would you take it? “Eternal You,” a documentary film by Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck now playing at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, asks this question almost rhetorically. 

Touching upon the continued rise of artificial intelligence and its role in forging human connections, the film is an exploration of a profound human desire to communicate, and the ethical considerations when one chooses to treat it as a commodity.

In the beginning of the film, “Eternal You” posits a fascinating juxtaposition between artificial intelligence and most religions. It says that both sectors promise that there is something after death — that humans essentially don’t have to die, and that their existence can transcend the limitations of their corporeal states.

But while it’s a fascinating thought, the documentary doesn’t really delve deep into that comparison. Instead, it focuses on the tightrope walk of striking the balance between technological innovation and humans’ ethical and moral responsibility.

‘Eternal You’: A Closer Look into Immortality as a Commodity

In 2023, an article went viral online about ChatGPT’s potential ability to make it possible for people to talk to the dead. By referring to the deceased loved one’s digital communications (virtual communication styles, facial recognition, voice recordings), AI programs can simulate them, essentially attaining digital immortality.

“Eternal You” heavily features that startup, Project December, alongside other startups that include HereAfter.ai and Resemble AI. Basically, they use AI capabilities to create avatars that allow relatives to talk with their loved ones after they have died.

However, as a computer programmer and game designer, co-creator Jason Rohrer started Project December only as a personal endeavor, seeing the possibilities of generative AI when one tweaks the codes to be able to talk to different characters. It was only when someone approached Rohrer and volunteered to simulate the former’s dead fiancée did Project December take off. Suddenly he was inundated with stories from people who’d lost loved ones, requesting Rohrer to simulate their departed ones.  

On Humans’ Very Unhealthy Relationship with Grief

When not providing the audiences with exposition, the filmmakers take the backseat. Instead, they allow the people to openly discuss their experiences using these AI tools to communicate with their dead loved ones. And that’s where the film shines. At certain points, “Eternal You” eerily plays out like a real-life version of a “Black Mirror” episode from over a decade ago. Since then, technological advancements have taken great strides. And with the continuous rise of artificial intelligence, communicating with anyone—including the dead—is made possible.

In the film, one customer attempts to check on her first love. Another man expresses his longing for his high school sweetheart even years later. Later on, a family member wishes to rid themselves of guilt. These are stories of everyday people, whose love and grief sound all too familiar. Regardless of one’s reason for wanting to talk to the dead, humans have always had a very unhealthy relationship with grief, and “Eternal You” keys in on that. 

Related Review: ‘The Resemblance’ Examines Novel Measures to Overcome Grief and Ultimately Heal

The Danger of Turning the Dead into a Billion-Dollar Business

“Eternal You,” in a way, exhorts the audience to reserve judgment against those willing to bleed their pockets dry just to avail of this kind of generative AI. Sure, from the outside looking in, it might look like an unhealthy obsession to hold on instead of moving forward. But deep down, it might simply be an important step toward healing: that of accepting a loss—albeit a very expensive form of acceptance at that. 

However, it stops short of admonishing a potential billion-dollar sector that, not long from where we are today, would likely profit from our digital remains even after we’re gone. For a documentary film that dares to explore a timely topic that touches on the importance of ethics, providing some semblance of solution would’ve been better than simply leaving the moral complexities up to the audience to navigate.

And by posing important questions without providing concrete calls to action, this is where the filmmakers fall short. For what it’s worth, it could’ve at least taken a stand.

Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck’s “Eternal You” will screen at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, which runs from January 18 to 28, 2024. Follow us for continuing dispatches, reviews, capsules, and wrap-ups over the next few days.