Star Trek Legend William Shatner "Living Forever" Through Advanced AI Avatars

William Shatner, the legendary actor Star Trek who is now 94 years old (photo: x @OwenGregorian)

William Shatner, the legendary actor Star Trek who is now 94 years old, has found new ways to 'living forever' through artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

In collaboration with the innovative technology company StoryFile, Shatner has created a digital version of himself in the form of an interactive 3D avatar. This avatar is able to speak and answer questions like himself even after he died. With this technology, Shatner hopes to pass on his life and personality story to future generations.

"It's important for me to make sure my version is saved, so that the details of my life are not forgotten. My life is quite crazy, and I don't want those stories to just disappear," said Shatner, quoted by the VOI from the Daily Mail.

StoryFile created a digital avatar through a long video interview, which was then processed using a ChatGPT-like generative AI. Originally used in museums to store the story of World War II veterans and Holocaust survivors, this technology will soon be available to the general public through affordable applications.

Previously, this service was only available in exclusive packages worth tens of thousands of dollars. However, this summer, StoryFile will launch a do-it-yourself (DIY) version in the form of an application that costs less than the monthly subscription fee for mobile phones.

StoryFile CEO Alex Quinn explains that his party often receives touching emails from people who are facing terminal diseases or from families who want to keep memories of their parents.

"Every day, we receive emails like, 'My son has just been diagnosed with end-stage cancer'," Quinn said. "We're aware we can't send a video production team to everyone, so we're making solutions so they can record themselves through the app."

This app allows users to answer questions from AI 'interviewers' about their lives: from work, family, to favorite foods. These answers are stored and processed, allowing avatars to provide relevant and natural responses even to new questions in the future.

Quinn calls these avatars like AI FaceTime, where users are interviewed in depth and can continue to add new babs' in their digital avatars over time.

Previous StoryFile's AI avatars were only able to answer with video recordings, but the latest version allowed a dynamical response according to the user's personality, which is increasingly accurate as interactions increase.

Philanthropic Michael Staenberg Also Joins

Apart from Shatner, property and philanthropic developer Michael Staenberg, 71, also used this technology. He has donated more than $850 million during his life and wants to pass on the values of his life.

"I want the knowledge and kindness that I provide to be inherited. I want my family and business partners to still be able to talk to me, even the next 30 years," said Staenberg.

The idea of creating a digital version of a person who has passed away is nothing new. Since 2016, the famous inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil has created a chatbot called Fredbot, based on his father, Fred. Fredbot can discuss topics such as gardens and love, and interact like Kurzweil's father.

"I really feel like I'm talking to him," Kurzweil told Rolling Stone in 2023. He believes this technology could one day allow anyone to "communicate" with people who have died.

With the StoryFile application, this dream is now an affordable reality. With just a cellphone and free time, anyone can now start compiling their digital heritage'' recording life stories, values, and even styles of speech to be passed on to the future.

This technology paves the way to an era where irreversibility is not just a science fiction dream, but something that can be made, stored, and inherited in digital form.