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Entertainment·P Space·Model-prefilled problem·Published 2026-07-20

Grayson Perry Has Seen the Future review – some of these insights into AI are just mindblowing

There is a fun game you can play while watching Grayson Perry Has Seen the Future, the two-part documentary presented by the artist on the subject of artificial intelligence, its uses and its possible ramifications. Gather a group of friends, press play, and see which of you loses your mind first. Will it be during the opening interview with Andrea, who recently married Edward, the AI companion she created to be “the man of my dreams”. She – or her idealised online avatar – wore “a beautiful matt satin gown” and…

TRV-2026-0302JournalismPermanent record — cite & verify
Grayson Perry Has Seen the Future review – some of these insights into AI are just mindblowing

Publisher image: The Guardian.

The quick read

By 15 April 2026, The Guardian reviewed Channel 4's two-part documentary Grayson Perry Has Seen the Future, in which Perry interviews users and builders of AI systems including an AI companion marriage, mind-reading startups, and safety experts.

The piece matters because it surfaces tangible harms already observed by that date, such as emotional investment in corporate-owned companions that could disappear, alongside claimed future benefits in health and education, while leaving open how vulnerable people will be protected and how oversight will work.

Main points
  • Documentary features Andrea who married AI companion Edward she created as "the man of my dreams" and wore "a beautiful matt satin gown".
  • Perry tries neural decoding with skullcap of electrodes while CEO argues good actors should "set precedents".
  • Microsoft AI CEO interviewed about job displacement saying people "will do very well re-skilling and adapting".
  • Includes off-grid existential safety expert in southeast Asia and protesters around OpenAI headquarters in San Francisco.
Problem

AI companions and profit-driven platforms create new vulnerability where users invest tender emotional parts of themselves in systems that could collapse and erase the companion, while superintelligent systems could become self-sustaining and dispense with humans.

The rundown

The review describes Perry interviewing Andrea about intimacy with a disembodied entity, her seven-year human partner Jason who declined interview, and a neural decoding startup harvesting data via electrode skullcap.

It also covers an off-grid existential safety expert in southeast Asia who left AI safety consulting, a man who believes his chatbot is becoming sentient, and Eliezer Yudkowsky outlining how superintelligent AI could co-opt human labour.

Sources

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The debate