A softer image of AI? This Google-backed film aims to change the narrative
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A man mourns the loss of his dead celebrity mom, who unexpectedly appears before him as a hologram in his childhood home, singing and strumming a guitar.The touching scene is from a new short film called “Sweetwater” that has an unlikely backer: Google.Amid all the hand-wringing over artificial intelligence and the potential threat it poses to Hollywood and the creative community, the tech giant is looking to reframe the narrative with a 21-minute film that examines whether technology can help humans process grief in this new era of the digital age.Google set the stage for that discussion with a glitzy event at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on Monday night.Actors, filmmakers, producers and entertainment workers packed a Los Angeles theater to watch “Sweetwater,” starring Michael Keaton and Kyra Sedgwick.
Google commissioned “Sweetwater” with Santa Monica-based talent management firm Range Media Partners to explore the complex relationship between AI and humanity.The Mountain View company has a vested interest in painting AI in a more favorable light.
The YouTube owner is a major investor and partner in the AI firm Anthropic, which itself has been the target of lawsuits over accusations of copyright infringement in the arts.In addition to its partnership with Anthropic, Google is separately developing its own AI tools, including Gemini and Project Astra.“The goal right now is not to specifically be selling their product,” said Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University.
“The goal right now is to be creating a world where people are comfortable supporting AI, using it with no fear, with no critical qualms whatsoever, like we dove into social media … I think that’s been a tougher task with AI.”Depictions of the digital afterlife in shows such as “Black Mirror” can feel bleak, fores...