AI apologies
a new frontier of moving on...maybe
OK so, I don’t know that much about AI (artificial intelligence). But I have been thinking about a very specific use case: apologies. Specifically, being apologized to. Like, imagine being able to reanimate your ex in audio form using just a clip of their voice. Spoiler: you don’t actually have to imagine, because the tech is already here.
Apologies are hard. They’re messy. I might even categorize them as an art, representative of the human capacity for connection and repair. They don’t always work out - sometimes the other person doesn’t know (or even care about) what you need to hear. But you probably do. With this technology, you can determine the apology down to the (spoken) word. And the voice that says it - remember how I mentioned your ex?
Here’s some examples I made up - generated by the beta version of ElevenLabs Prime Voice AI, courtesy of my much more tech-savvy brother:
I’m really sorry I ghosted you after our third date - the one where we ate tacos and then watched the movie Lion in my tiny sublet. I was really intimidated by your intellect, and also how hot you looked. Oh, and I still think about your mushroom risotto after seven years.
as said by AI George Clooney:
or
I wish I came to support you at more of your soccer games in high school. I’ve always been your biggest fan, but I didn’t know how to show it.
as said by AI me (this is not actually me speaking!!):
or
I’m sorry I told everyone that you smelled bad in 4th grade. As an adult I understand the impact it had on your self esteem, and I really wish I hadn’t said it.
as said by AI Katy Perry:
Obviously, the examples above are from celebrities - people we’re used to seeing as mouthpieces for other people’s words. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be apologized to by George Clooney. But you could use the same technology to craft an apology spoken in a synthetic version of your ex’s (example 1), parent’s (ex. 2), or bully’s (ex. 3) voice. Weird! Maybe helpful? Certainly ethically fraught. So here I’m merely presenting the idea, not suggesting it definitely should or definitely shouldn’t be an option. You could make the argument that it’s a new extension of existing therapeutic techniques like role playing with a therapist, journaling what you wish someone would’ve said to you, or the empty chair technique. You could also argue that it’s an unacceptable breach of interpersonal boundaries.
Some things that could potentially be therapeutic about an AI apology (in their voice specifically) : It could help close the loop in your head, affirm what you know to be true, stop you from contacting someone who isn’t pleasant or safe for you, or allow you to move on/forgive/forget/whatever works for you in this instance. And now the Black Mirror-esque stuff: it allows for a relationship to continue after it has ended (without consent), the voice is likely just slightly off/you know deep down it’s not really them saying it, and of course: the shaky at best morality of literally putting words in someone else’s mouth, even for personal healing purposes.
And if you’d rather replicate the experience of being surprised by the content of the apology, AI tech (like ChatGPT) can even write it for you.
some notable (and less notable) things
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a recipe
it’s a becca’s brownies kind of week.
baking by feel
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