The Ex Files
Ex Machina
Raise your hand if you've ever wished you could re-live a bad breakup so you could tell that person everything you wished you'd said at the time...and then some. If I had to guess, I'd say about 90% of you raised your hands.
Well, now you can do just that — without even speaking to the person.
Sort of.
Thanks to AI, young people in China have begun creating digital versions of their exes to facilitate their emotional healing. Using Ex.skill, an open source module, people can upload information from past relationships and create a virtual version of the person who dumped them. The tool essentially helps them re-create the relationship by uploading photos, social media posts, text messages, and subtle details about their personality, like annoying eating habits and over-used catchphrases.
Whatchu talkin' bout, Willis?
You can even share personal memories — like that time you got into a huge argument at the beach because "someone" forgot to pack the sunscreen.
It wasn't me.
One woman uploaded thousands of chat logs and then went through a second breakup — with the AI version. She said that's what finally helped her move on. So, she essentially broke up with a copy of her ex.
Look, I kinda get the urge to go back and re-litigate arguments I lost so I can win them with my age-inspired wisdom, but AI models are so advanced I'd probably lose again. Then I'd end up living in a weird, Total-Recall-meets-Groundhog-Day, sci-fi, rom-com because my digital ex was more savage than my human ex.
I'd rather just watch Total Groundhog. It'd be less painful.
Is It Live, Or Is It Memorex
Before you pass judgment on those closure-seeking youngsters, consider that many of us do something similar every day — only with a different intent.
They're creating replicas to gain closure. We create replicas to brace for impact.
Ahead of Monday's 9 AM status call with a never-impressed, prickly team lead, we anticipate a flurry of negative responses during our portion of the meeting. This causes us to walk in on edge with our guard up, ready to defend against attacks that haven't even happened yet.
Or we send a detailed email full of snarky "before you question my decision..." energy to that colleague we've nicknamed Columbo because they always ask one more question. They haven't even heard our logic, yet we pepper them with a bunch of pre-fabricated — potentially unnecessary — explanations.
This behavior, meant to help us brace for the expected, ends up manufacturing the exact thing we braced for.
We walk into the meeting guarded and come off defensive, so the team lead gets prickly. The snarky email we sent actually provokes the pushback we feared. Our response — in advance — was to a copy of the person, not the live version.
And a copy built from someone's worst parts will always confirm the worst.
So the version we braced for walks in right on cue — while the one who might've surprised us never gets through the door.
Question of the Week
Whose worst version are you bracing for?
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