Instagram from beyond the grave

Generative AI technology is getting weird. I’m seeing more and more people creating deepfake content on social media, and I’m also noticing AI-generated “influencers” start to take off on platforms like Instagram.

In a way, it’s not surprising given the early success of early attempts at this like @lilmiquela on Instagram. I remember when a friend showed me that profile it felt dystopian but also like I was getting an early glimpse of a future that now feels inevitable.

Turning 29 recently, and also seeing loved ones and the loved ones of friends pass away has led me to think a lot more about mortality. Our lives are precious, not guaranteed, and very fleeting. However, we leave behind more digital artifacts than ever before.

Startups are racing to train AI models on video and text. People already have ported a version of themselves into chatbots and video avatars. This leads me to wonder… what if there was a way to immortalize ourselves on social media? I can imagine an opt-in experience where someone could live on for eternity if enough images of them exist. You could continue to generate photos of them traveling the world or simply living their daily lives.

The implications of this technology are far too vast to unpack in this short, daily newsletter. However, I think we will be dealing with digital products like this sooner than we might think.

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