It’s A Sin actor leads comedian’s short film about AI’s potential impact on the human brain
The Financial Times (FT) is expanding its original video content with a Stephen Fry-led narrative short film written and co-directed by David Baddiel.
Recall Me, Maybe explores the intersection of AI and memories and sees Fry play a grandfather living with dementia who turns to AI to fill in the gaps in his memory.
As his family navigates a digital archive of his life, they start to uncover some unsettling truths, which prompt them to question what memories are real and how might AI reshape who we are and what we believe to be true.
The 13-minute film was co-directed by Baddiel and Juliet Riddell, head of new formats at the FT, and also stars Gemma Whelan (Game of Thrones, The Tower).
It is the latest in the FT Standpoint strand, the news brand’s video unit, which teams up with creators to explore timely stories. Previous examples include Jodie Whittaker-led drama Capture: who’s looking after the children?
Like its predecessors, Recall Me, Maybe is rooted in FT journalism and is the product of editorial and creative workshops between Baddiel and leading FT journalists, AI editor Madhu Murgia, innovation editor John Thornhill and science editor Michael Peel.
The drama examines the intersection of AI, society and the personal question of who we are with the benefits of the technology for health and aging.
Riddell said: “This production is the latest in a growing body of FT scripted film that harnesses the power of creativity combined with rigorous journalism to spark debate and reach broad and influential audiences. As AI shapes the world around us at incredible speed there’s never been a greater need for audiences to understand the scale of its impact on a practical and human level.”
Baddiel said he wanted to make a film that provoked debate but that also had an emotional story at its heart and took inspiration from his experiences of his father’s dementia.
“I found a personal way in [to AI] by thinking about the way this technology shifts our sense of reality, and dementia, which, as I saw in my father’s later years, also does that,” he explained.
“There seems to be a faith, an almost religious faith, coming from the corporations, in the ability of quantum computers to fix human limitations, to fix our mortality. But in doing so, we may be changing what it means to be human. The film tries to explore all this, without necessarily coming down in any straightforward way on the side of good and bad. AI is complex, and so, in my opinion, must be our story-telling response to it.”
Recall Me, Maybe will launch soon on YouTube and FT.com.
The newspaper has previously collaborated with the likes of The Royal Court, Sonia Friedman Productions, The Royal Albert Hall, Sadler’s Wells, and LIFT, creating films and events that tackle newsworth issues in artistic forms.
No comments yet