Deathbot: Resurrecting loved ones

At this point in time, the phrase ‘AI’ has been so overused both in writing and in product production that it’s akin to me using the word ‘akin’ in my articles to sound smart. We have seen Artificial Intelligence used in practically every field imaginable such as knowledge summaries, image generation, healthcare, and e-commerce – but have you ever heard of AI videos and avatars being generated of deceased loved ones?

The first instance of this technology – the “grief tech sector” – roughly surfaced in 2019, according to the BBC. An example of an application that applies this technology is HereAfterAI, created by James Vlahos after his father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He had attempted to make the most out of the remaining time that he had with his father, which led to voice recordings totalling a few hours of his father’s life story, and an AI chatbot that is able to answer questions about his dad’s life in his voice.

Many users have claimed that the technology provided them comfort and closure after their loved ones had passed

Another tech firm, DeepBrain AI, takes it to the next level with a video-based avatar of the deceased which has a 96.5% likeness to the original person. However, resurrecting the dead digitally is costly, with users having to pay the firm up to £39,000 for the video creation and generation of their avatar.

The scientific journal and magazine Nature says that a healthy grieving process is “thought to involve a person successfully cultivating an internal relationship with the person that has died.” Critics question if the same statement can be applied when involving a “griefbot” in the process. In Nature’s article, it is stated that many users have claimed that the technology provided them comfort and closure after their loved ones had passed. Alas, the potential for harm is ever-present.

The website disclaimer for their product states that interacting with “science-fiction-level technology” could result in a bad experience and “could hurt you”

The creator of Project December – a start up that creates text-based conversations with the deceased under the tagline “Simulate the dead” – had explained that the website disclaimer for their product states that interacting with “science-fiction-level technology”, could result in a bad experience and “could hurt you” stemmed from the fact that AI is unpredictable. This meant that the product could “hallucinate” details if doing so allowed it to formulate a better reply to the user.

In the grieving process, people tend to treasure their past memories of the deceased, reminiscing about past conversations and moments from daily life. The American Brain Foundation states that chronic stress, which may occur with grief, could cause a reduction in nerve growth and memory. This stress, coupled with an AI’s ability to generate fake memories of loved ones, does raise the question of whether or not an AI recreation of the departed is the best idea for someone grieving.

So, is this technology aiding the recovery process of those who have lost loved ones, or are companies just benefiting from the vulnerability of grieving people? Is it really worth putting words into loved one’s mouths for our own comfort? As it is with all technology, we should be proceeding with caution and have an awareness of certain risks that come with its use. I leave you with a quote from William Shakespeare: “All that glitters is not gold.”