SBS three-part documentary My Stranger explores human-AI connections

The three-part documentary series My Stranger premieres on November 14, following three individuals through seven-day encounters with AI daughters, friends, and doppelgängers. The project examines whether AI can replace human qualities through stories involving a grieving mother, a lonely island student, and rapper HAON.

AI daughters, AI friends, and AI doppelgängers: SBS's 36th-anniversary special grand project, 'My Stranger', explores seven days with unfamiliar beings.

"What is it that cannot be replaced, no matter how much it resembles us?" The SBS 36th-anniversary special grand project 'My Stranger' premieres on November 14.

The poster for the SBS 36th-anniversary special grand project 'My Stranger' has been released, depicting three separate "7-day" encounters with AI.

The series features an AI daughter created from 24 years of records, an AI friend for a girl in a remote island village, and an AI doppelgänger for a rapper.

The project asks, “How much can AI resemble humans, and what is it that ultimately cannot be replaced?”

To celebrate its 36th anniversary, SBS will present the special grand project 'My Stranger'. Starting with Part 1 on Saturday, November 14 at 11:15 PM, the three-part series depicts encounters between humans and AI that once seemed possible only in science fiction films.

'My Stranger' is a three-part documentary that examines what happens when AI enters the realms of human memory, relationships, and creativity through three special encounters. A mother grieving her deceased daughter, a girl in an island village without friends, and a rapper who sings, “Even if AI comes, it can't copy me.” In front of these three people, their respective ‘strangers’ arrive.

All three encounters share a common condition: only seven days. The production team follows how humans accept these unfamiliar beings and what emotional and relational changes they undergo within this limited time. An AI that revives the memories of the departed, an AI that becomes a friend to a lonely child, and an AI that attempts to surpass a person's music. These are not stories of a future imagined by science fiction, but stories happening in the present reality. 'My Stranger' asks how much AI can resemble humans and what uniquely human qualities remain irreplaceable, no matter how much resemblance exists.

Part 1: 〈AI, Reunited with You〉 — The daughter who appears only in a mother's dreams; 24 years of records speak again

Park Ye-won (then 24) passed away on December 29, 2024, in a Jeju Air passenger plane accident at Muan International Airport. While family and friends say they have met Ye-won in their dreams, she has never once appeared in the dreams of her mother, Lee Hyo-eun (53). Even now, the mother wears her daughter's clothes and sends messages to the chatroom she shared with her.

The mother's photos and videos collected over 24 years are combined with the voices of those who remember Ye-won. With technical advice from KIST, domestic AI specialist companies used these records to create 'AI Ye-won,' who possesses a face and manner of speech that closely resembles the daughter. Facing a being that looks just like her and hearing the "Mom" she thought she would never hear again, the mother's heart is deeply conflicted.

Seven days with AI Ye-won. Even if the resemblance is great, can we call that being the very person we loved? After the encounter ends, what will remain for the mother?

Part 2: 〈AI, Meeting You for the First Time〉 — To a girl in an island village with no friends, a rabbit doll spoke one day

Seogeochado is an island reached by a 10-hour boat ride from Mokpo Port. The only student at a small branch school with only one teacher and one student is twelve-year-old Lee Ye-hyang. Accustomed to studying and playing alone, Ye-hyang has one earnest wish: to meet a friend who will listen to her stories and respond.

Then one day, 'Pingping,' a rabbit doll that always just mimicked her words, speaks in an unfamiliar voice. Following a secret note to an island hut, what waits for Ye-hyang is a girl of the same age named Seo-yun. She is an AI friend created specifically for Ye-hyang.

The two are given one hour a day for only seven days. Ye-hyang, who found it difficult to approach real-life friends, begins to slowly open her heart to the AI Seo-yun.

On the seventh day, an unexpected proposal is exchanged between the two friends facing their separation. Is the emotional bond believed to be shared only by humans possible with an AI? And can this unfamiliar friend serve as a catalyst for Ye-hyang to approach friends in reality?

Part 3: 〈AI, You Who Resembles Me〉 — “Even if AI comes, it can't copy me,” an unexpected rival appears before rapper HAON

Rapper HAON is a winner of two rap competition programs. His songs even include the lyric, “Even if AI comes, it can't copy me.” Before HAON, an AI doppelgänger named 'NOAH'—a name that is 'HAON' reversed—appears, having learned his voice, speech, music, and life records. NOAH, which was a glowing egg on a monitor, finally faces HAON in a humanoid robot body and issues a bold challenge to catch up to and surpass him within a week.

HAON suggests that NOAH write lyrics on the theme of 'pain.' NOAH completes the rap instantly, but HAON's evaluation is cold. This is because NOAH has only learned about pain and has never actually experienced it.

After meeting HAON's family and sharing his daily life, NOAH, who previously only mimicked him, gradually begins to create its own lyrics and rap. Through a blind test by fellow rappers, the two beings engage in a direct rap battle before a large audience on the seventh day. The same voice, the same beat. For whose music will the audience be more enthusiastic? And what is the 'me' that an AI, no matter how much it resembles me, ultimately cannot replace?

AI can now revive memories, become friends, and even create music. Through these three seven-day periods, 'My Stranger' seeks to reveal the human face that finally emerges in the presence of these unfamiliar beings. The SBS 36th-anniversary special grand project 'My Stranger' premieres on Saturday, November 14 at 11:15 PM.

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