Can artificial intelligence help you tell your story? This is the idea behind the startup called Autobiographerwhich uses artificial intelligence technology to engage users in meaningful conversations about events in their lives and their feelings about them, and then turns them into prose, effectively creating their very own autobiography.
The startup is in a field rife with debate — many people have rebelled against the notion that artificial intelligence could replace art, writing and other creative endeavors. But with Autobiographer, the AI guides the user to tell their very own story in their very own words, and then organizes it into an output file that might be exported as a PDF, and perhaps one day also sure and printed. In other words, he acts more as a collaborator than as a sole creator.
The app may not replace professionally handwritten stories, but it could possibly function a way to document family or friendship history or create a keepsake for children.
Co-founder and CEO of Autobiograf Matt Bowman sees the app as a way to leave behind a narrative for his godchildren. Before working at Facebook in the Bay Area, Bowman previously served in Army Special Forces, where he was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. As a result, he experienced losses that shaped his worldview.
“I have a lot of great stories about my friends in the military – a lot of fun events, a lot of unique and amazing events – many of which we heard at the funerals of some of my best friends. Now my job is to determine how to synthesize them and give them to my godchildren,” Bowman says. He wants them to give you the option to learn more about their father, his life in the military and what he was like as a person.
“The technology has gotten to the point where this is possible,” Bowman explains. “We can tell these stories, verbalize them, and then turn them into beautiful souvenirs that we can give to those around us.”
Bowman teamed up with James Barnes, who also worked at Facebook during the 2016 and 2018 elections, where he was notably one of the first people to notice problems surrounding the Cambridge Analytica data harvesting scandal – an event that led to to his involvement in several subsequent depositions and subpoenas. He later left Facebook to start a super PAC to fight Trump. While fooling around with OpenAI’s GPT-3, he discovered that AI could help him process the things he went through in his life, including these milestones.
“The AI had an incredible ability to reflectively see myself, my history and events,” says Barnes.
Although Barnes and Bowman didn’t meet on Facebook, they met last 12 months in San Francisco when Barnes was looking for someone with military experience to help the team (which also includes co-founders Luke Schoenfelder and Ivan Almaral) experiment with the concept of using artificial intelligence to tell stories. They were united by common goals and other experiences, including an interest in psychedelic medicine.
“The study of consciousness was a key connection point for us,” explains Barnes. “While we’re working on these really tangible things, we can also think about the possibilities of our platform to allow people to introspect and do more abstract, personal work,” he says.
To use the app, you chat with an Anthropic-powered AI agent who prompts you to tell a story. For example, the initial prompt might ask you to tell a story about an adventure you had, reminding you that there is no right or mistaken answer. If you prefer, you can start speaking, pause and resume the recording, or move on to one other query.
Memories are stored in a vault, a biometrically protected, encrypted space that even Autobiographer employees cannot access.
“One of the most important values why James, Luke, Ivan and I came together was the obvious understanding that no one was going to tell their cherished memories or very emotionally sensitive stories about something that was being advertised – or that a group of engineers could be seen behind ” says Bowman.
The app allows you to return to topics, explore memories, and then transform them into several types of prose – for example, a short story or a letter of gratitude to a loved one. For now they are exported in PDF format, but the team would love to make the book available in print someday.
Autobiograph costs $199 a 12 months – actually cheaper than Ghostwriter, but also expensive enough to discourage some.
The company has now partnered with journalist Katie Couric, who will likely be the startup’s promotional partner. However, its role is still being determined.
The company behind Autobiographer was founded three and a half years ago, but has undergone several changes. The latest version of the app, released today, was launched a 12 months ago.
Autobiographer receives $4 million in support from various firms.