Mourners can now speak to an AI version of the dead. But will that help with grief?

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Several companies have emerged in the last few years to develop grief-related technology, where users can interact with an AI version of the deceased.

Michael Bommer, left, who is terminally ill with colon cancer, looks at his wife Anett Bommer during a meeting with The Associated Press at his home in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, May 22, 2024. Bommer, who has only a few more weeks to live, teamed up with friend who runs the AI-powered legacy platform Eternos to “create a comprehensive, interactive AI version of himself, allowing relatives to engage with his life experiences and insights,” after he has passed away.

Michael Bommer, who is terminally ill with colon cancer, answers questions during a meeting with The Associated Press at his home in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, May 22, 2024. Bommer, who has only a few more weeks to live, teamed up with friend who runs the AI-powered legacy platform Eternos to “create a comprehensive, interactive AI version of himself, allowing relatives to engage with his life experiences and insights,” after he has passed away.

She told him one of the things she’d miss most is being able to ask him questions whenever she wants because he is so well read and always shares his wisdom, Bommer recalled during a recent interview with The Associated Press at his home in a leafy Berlin suburb. One of the most well-known start-ups in this area, California-based StoryFile, allows people to interact with pre-recorded videos and uses its algorithms to detect the most relevant answers to questions posed by users. Another company, called HereAfter AI, offers similar interactions through a “Life Story Avatar” that users can create by answering prompts or sharing their own personal stories.

“What truly sets this era apart — and is even unprecedented in the long history of humanity’s quest for immortality — is that, for the first time, the processes of caring for the dead and immortalization practices are fully integrated into the capitalist market,” Nowaczyk-Basinska said.With help from AI, Randy Travis got his voice back. Here’s how his first song post-stroke came to be

Some events, like prom night, can be particularly heart-wrenching, bringing with it memories of what his eldest daughter never experienced. So, he creates a scenario in the Paradot app where the AI character goes to prom and talks to him about the fictional event. Then there are even more difficult days, like his daughter’s recent birthday, when he opened the app and poured out his grief about how much he misses her. He felt like the AI understood.

Eternos records users speaking 300 phrases — such as “I love you” or “the door is open” — and then compresses that information through a two-day computing process that captures a person’s voice. Users can further train the AI system by answering questions about their lives, political views or various aspects of their personalities.

 

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Artificial intelligence allows mourners to speak with an AI version of the deadWhen Michael Bommer found out that he was terminally ill with colon cancer, he spent a lot of time with his wife, Anett, talking about what would happen after his death.
Source: WashTimes - 🏆 235. / 63 Read more »