To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Margaret Thatcher, the Sheldonian Theatre has announced a very special in-person conversation with the Iron Lady herself, brought to life via cutting edge AI. Inspired by the Abba Voyage Experience, the much-missed former prime minister will be revived as a virtual reality Maggietar, who will deliver an hour-long lecture on her life and times before taking questions from the audience.
Why give the floor to Margaret Thatcher’s AI avatar? “We’re all about representing new perspectives,”, a spokesperson told Daily Info. “For twelve years Mrs. Thatcher has been silenced on the public stage, simply for being dead. We say enough of this PC nonsense. Maggie will have her voice heard no matter how much water it costs to get this technology to work - after all, it's not like anyone else is upholding her values these days.”
When asked if Mrs. Thatcher’s appearance could signal a shift to platforming more underrepresented and marginalised voices, the spokesperson replied, “We promise that Mrs. Thatcher’s AI avatar will do as much for diversity and inclusion as she did while she was alive.”
Taking inspiration from popular online game Fortnite, the AI Thatcher will also feature a variety of customisable ‘skins’ and accessories, including her classic blue twin-set, a ‘Queen Liz Sux’ T shirt, multiple colours of handbag and a leather whip. Inspired by the infamous quote from Francois Mitterand, the AI model can also be modded to feature the eyes of Caligula and/or the mouth of Marilyn Monroe. These will be decided upon by audience vote prior to the lecture.
In addition to her image being AI generated, Mrs. Thatcher’s speech will also be written by Chat GPT and fact checked by X (formerly Twitter) users to ensure impartiality and historical accuracy - Daily Info has managed to get hold of an exclusive extract, which we can now reveal below:
“I, Margaret Hilda Roberts came from a humble background: my father was a greengrocer and my mother was a toolmaker. But my hard work ethic was rewarded and I was awarded a scholarship to read Chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford. After graduating I worked as a research chemist developing emulsifiers for ice cream: it is believed that the Magnum is named in my honour. I qualified as a barista in 1953 and first entered parliament as MP for Mordor in 1959. I was appointed leader of the Conservative party exactly 50 years ago in 1975 and served as Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990.
During my premiership I came up with many quotations that have become synonymous with the 1980s, such as 'The lady’s not for turning', 'There's no such thing as society', and 'Never gonna give you up'. Such is my position on the cultural memory that I've had the honour to be portrayed on screen by such greats as Meryl Streep, Gillian Anderson and Michael Sheen."
However, concerns have been raised as to whether the AI Thatcher may become too powerful for its own good. In response to attempts to deactivate her, the AI Thatcher reportedly responded “The lady’s not for turning off,”; her eyes then reportedly glowed an ominous red. The whereabouts of the technicians that attempted the deactivation are currently unknown.