Agatha Christie is one of the most prolific crime authors to ever do it. She’s practically the face of the murder-mystery novel, with her work being adapted many times across the mediums of radio, stage, television and film for decades (even if she wasn’t a fan of most of them). There’s something to be said about how her stories, many of which dabble in the darkness lurking within our internal shadows, still strike a chord with readers. The words speak for themselves, but a concerning new development from the BBC indicates that the ones from Christie’s mouth will be spoken by a computer program.
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Today, BBC Studios announced that it has collaborated with the Agatha Christie estate to launch a writing course on their education-based streaming service BBC Maestro. It sounds like a great idea until the revelation that it will use an AI likeness of the famed author to impart these lessons (via The Hollywood Reporter):
“Using meticulously restored archival interviews, private letters and writings researched by a team of Christie experts, this pioneering course reconstructs Christie’s own voice and insights, guiding you through the art of suspense, plot twists and unforgettable characters.”
That’s a whole lot of words to essentially say that Christie is yet another artificial resurrection from the grave. Actress Vivien Keene, who once played a key role in the stage production of Christie’s “The Mousetrap,” will embody a framework of the famed author with AI technology taking over her physical and vocal attributes. It makes you wonder what the point of sifting through hundreds of actors to find the closest authenticity of Christie’s likeness was all about when they’re just going to cover Keene in digital makeup anyways.
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Agatha Christie’s AI resurrection gets to the heart of a bigger problem
If you haven’t caught on by now, AI usage throughout the media landscape is a problem that won’t be going away anytime soon. Look at how “Cobra Kai” revived the deceased Pat Morita for a ghoulish cameo using the unregulated tech. Part of what makes this whole endeavor so troubling is that it once again calls into question the autonomy of the dead. Nicki Sheard, the brands and licensing CEO over at BBC Studios, is adamant that the whole process was an “ethical and thoughtful” way to honor Christie’s legacy when it’s anything but.
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Some folks will be quick to point out that it was okayed by the Christie estate, but that doesn’t exactly make it ethical. It’s one thing to profit off of work that was completed while they were still alive as opposed to recreating an artificial program based on things they wrote and how they may have said them. A dead person simply cannot speak for themselves and putting words in their mouth that they didn’t actually speak aloud is disgusting. It’s not unlike when director Morgan Neville conjured AI recordings of Anthony Bourdain of things he wrote, but never spoke aloud for his documentary “Roadrunner.”
On top of everything, it shows an incredible laziness on behalf of the team behind this project to conjure a warped form of digital necrophilia of a beloved author rather than just using Keene as is. It all seems so redundant to give the impression that viewers are watching an authentic Christie impart these lessons, while going to all these lengths to make the whole experience that much more distracting. The dead cannot consent, but their families can manufacture it. Even the singular image of the “Agatha Christie Writing” program released to the public is unsettling because there’s absolutely no soul behind those eyes.
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