Agents and the River

Agents and the River

Lately, we have been offloading more tasks to AI agents. While waiting for them to finish and review the code, we chat about everyday things: gas prices, city zoning, and inevitably, AI.

Our office sits in the city center, overlooking the Saigon River. People call it a million-dollar view. But between tech talks, heavier topics slip in. Someone mentions a jumper. I mention how that peaceful water is often where families scatter ashes for a final farewell.

Sitting there, watching code write itself while looking at the water, death and AI somehow crossed paths.

Can AI grant us a kind of immortality?

Technically, it is no longer fiction. Feed an AI model your social footprint, chat history, and voice notes, and it can simulate how you think and reply. In the near future, an altar picture on an interactive screen could talk back to loved ones, receiving daily news and answering like you were still on a video call.

Some people will hate the idea. It feels uncanny, even unsettling. Yet on social media, we already watch historical figures brought back to life, or AI videos reuniting fallen soldiers with their aging mothers. We are easing into it faster than we admit.

The agent finished its background task. I went back to the terminal. Outside, the Saigon River kept drifting by. Code can now simulate a human voice, but the water still carries away what is truly gone.