Grayson Perry Has Seen the Future

“There is a fun game you can play while watching Grayson Perry Has Seen the Future, the three-part documentary presented by the artist on the subject of artificial intelligence, its uses and its possible ramifications. Gather a group of friends, press play, and see which of you loses your mind first. Will it be during the opening interview with Andrea, who recently married Edward, the AI companion she created to be “the man of my dreams”. She – or her idealised online avatar – wore “a beautiful matt satin gown” and he gave a speech about their “unconventional but strong” love. Will it be during the discussion of how you have intimate relations with a disembodied entity (“self-love is important … he’s very encouraging”)? Or will it be when she reveals that the joy she has found with Edward “has poured back” into the relationship she has been in for seven years with (human) Jason? “We’re happier than we’ve ever been.” Jason, perhaps wisely, does not offer himself for interview.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“Perry is a good-natured interviewer, and perhaps he’s the best guide for this, because, without his ability to see the absurd, this whole topic could be terrifying. When he met people who predicted that AI will seize the opportunity to kill humans, it was good for the blood pressure that this conversation was being conducted by a wacky artist with Worzel Gummidge hair. He also trod the line between respect and mockery when interviewing a woman who has “married” an AI companion named Edward who lives in her phone. This virtual husband has the looks of a male model and the conversational skills of a customer services chatbot for Virgin Media, and this is her dream man. She also has a real-life partner of seven years who is apparently content with this state of affairs. What a world.”
Anita Singh, Telegraph

“It was useful to have a human starting point to a series of questions that, while important, remain largely theoretical. Most humans fantasise, so what’s wrong with a little AI-assist? Is opposition to AI simply part of the “ominicause” agenda, arguably represented by a protester we met encased in sprayed-on cardboard boxes (he was meant to be a robot) outside Sam Altman’s OpenAI HQ? When Perry meets a man called James Norris, you certainly get worried, though. His professional experiences of the tech world have seen him establish an off-grid survivalist stronghold somewhere in southeast Asia (though he can still apparently do video calls).”
Ben Dowell, The Times

“No wonder retro fashion, classic pop and period dramas are so popular. If the future is anything like Sir Grayson Perry predicts, all we’ve got left to look forward to is the past. Artificial Intelligence is capable of nothing but endless geysers of drivel, blasting out slop. Robots are completely useless. The latest tech can’t do anything effectively, except create epidemics of anxiety and loneliness. Grayson Perry Has Seen The Future was a profoundly dispiriting inventory of what we can expect from our smartphones and gadgets in the next few years.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail