Postmortem Social Media
There is a thought-provoking concept coming from the UK based tech company/social network Eter9. Eter9 analyzes user behavior and patterns with regards to posting, commenting, and smiling (similar to a Facebook “like”) and through an AI program it can begin to do these activities on a user’s behalf. The idea is that even if a user passes away the intelligent AI “virtual counterpart” can continue to maintain the person’s profile. Even if the user is still alive the AI can continue interacting with the network on an almost 24/7 basis. Facebook is also beginning to experiment with the idea of postmortem profile maintenance. In the UK, Facebook now offers a “legacy contact” feature that entrusts one person with the ability to takeover the profile once the user has passed away.
When examining this from a class perspective one has to think about how a social network is formed, and the positive and negative interrelationships that lead to its formation. People often connect with one another on a social network because they are some sort of friend or positive acquaintance. Occasionally one might add an “enemy” to their network just to keep tabs on them. If an AI begins to analyze and control someone’s profile, one has to wonder how true the AI will be to the original user’s behavior. If the AI’s behavior begins to deviate from the user’s behavior the positive and negative relationships may begin to be skewed in a user’s network. The easiest way to think about this is with a social media political activist. Their posts may lean extremely left, or right, and their network of friends likely reflects their own political views. Will the AI be sophisticated enough to pick up on a user’s political tendencies and continue to follow suit? This is an interesting question to ask as it could pertain to several different types of users.
The AI’s ability to post on a 24/7 basis seems a bit excessive and unnecessary. Regular users interact with social networks far less than on a 24/7 basis, so why would an AI begin interacting more? The AI should likely follow the posting patterns of its user. Even postmortem posting appears to be a strange and niche concept. In fact some users have called the concept “creepy” and “spooky”. It is difficult to see several users wanting their profiles to continue on after their death because social media is such a personal, and sensitive, thing to some people. Will they be willing to relinquish control of their profile and allow an AI to takeover? Though a very interesting idea, both through a business and psychology/sociology lens, it seems that Eter9 may be aiming for something that many users will find unnecessary.