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Indian Express
a day ago
- Indian Express
From ‘grief bots' to 3D avatars: How startups are using AI to simulate the dead
The latest and possibly most controversial use case for generative AI is here. A new wave of startups are creating so-called 'grief bots' or 'dead bots' that allow people to interact with AI representations of their deceased loved ones. These bots are essentially large language models (LLMs), fine-tuned to generate responses that mimic the speech and personality of the deceased individual. They are, in turn, part of a larger field known as 'grief tech' which includes technology ranging from chatbots to more realistic 3D avatars of people who have died. Project December, Story File, and You, Only Virtual are a few of the startups that are focused on developing AI tools to help users grieve and cope with the loss of a partner, friend, or family member. While these AI simulations may offer some people a sense of closure, they also raise serious concerns. Despite being trained to resemble real individuals, interactions with AI bots and avatars can still be quite unpredictable and unsettling for many. 'We are talking about a very specific group of users, they are in a very vulnerable state. They are looking for some closure but the opposite can happen,' Hans Block, a film director, said in an interview that is part of a recent documentary called Eternal, You. 'Some of the services are using a lot of private data. For example, the practice of storing all the messages that a person has sent to another person in order to create how a person is speaking in a way,' Block added. Justin Harrison, the founder and CEO of You, Only Virtual, offered a different perspective. Harrison's startup creates AI-powered audio versions of people called Versonas that users can call and have conversations with. The very first Versona he created using AI was based on his own mother after she was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. 'This is one of the many problems that we are meant to solve. There are moments when only your mom or only your dad can make you feel better. They are the only ones who can say that right thing in the way that they would say it to you. And that's an unquantifiable help,' Harrison told BBC in an interview. He further envisions Versonas being integrated with realistic robots in the future. Grief bots are also evolving beyond text and audio to become more lifelike and interactive. StoryFile works with its users to create AI-powered video avatars of deceased loved ones that allow for conversations resembling a Zoom call. A user whose father was diagnosed with a terminal illness signed up for StoryFile's service. The company sat down with the father and had him repeat stock phrases such as 'Hi', 'I love you, too', 'Bye for now', and 'I don't have an answer for that right now' for when the AI avatar is unable to generate a suitable response to the user's query, according to a report by The New York Times. StoryFile also makes interactive AI-generated videos for museums and other art foundations. Going forward, the startup reportedly has plans to develop an AI app that lets users themselves create an avatar of a person by uploading their emails, social media posts, and other background information.
New York Times
30-03-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Optimization Culture Comes for Grief
An older Korean man named Mr. Lee, dressed in a blazer and slacks, clutches the arms of his chair and leans toward his wife. 'Sweetheart, it's me,' he says. 'It's been a long time.' 'I never expected this would happen to me,' she replies through tears. 'I'm so happy right now.' Mr. Lee is dead. His widow is speaking to an A.I.-powered likeness of him projected onto a wall. 'Please, never forget that I'm always with you,' the projection says. 'Stay healthy until we meet again.' This conversation was filmed as part of a promotional campaign for Re;memory, an artificial intelligence tool created by the Korean start-up DeepBrain AI, which offers professional-grade studio and green-screen recording (as well as relatively inexpensive ways of self-recording) to create lifelike representations of the dead. It's part of a growing market of A.I. products that promise users an experience that closely approximates the impossible: communicating and even "reuniting' with the deceased. Some of the representations — like those offered by HereAfter AI and StoryFile, which also frames its services as being of historical value — can be programmed with the person's memories and voices to produce realistic holograms or chatbots with which family members or others can converse. The desire to bridge life and death is innately human. For millenniums, religion and mysticism have offered pathways for this — blurring the lines of logic in favor of the belief in eternal life. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
