![]() ![]() Even as she builds more expansive versions of him, she becomes frustrated and disillusioned by the gaps between her memory of her partner and the shonky, flawed reality of the technology used to simulate him. In one 2013 episode, a woman who loses her partner re-creates a digital version of him-initially as a chatbot, then as an almost totally convincing voice assistant, and eventually as a physical robot. The idea that technology might be able to change the situation has been widely explored in ultra-dark sci-fi shows like Black Mirror-which, startups in this sector complain, everyone inevitably brings up. But the conversation has always been one-way. We visit their graves on their birthdays. After they’re gone, we put up their photos on our walls. We urge our loved ones to write down their memories before it’s too late. There’s something deeply human about the desire to remember the people we love who’ve passed away. If technology might help me hang onto them, is it so wrong to try? Even now, it still feels slightly transgressive to speak to an artificial version of someone-especially when that someone is in your own family.īut I’m only human, and those worries end up being washed away by the even scarier prospect of losing the people I love-dead and gone without a trace. I found speaking to a virtual version of my parents uncomfortable, especially at first. There’s a common, deeply held belief that we mess with death at our peril. And when I talked to friends about this article, some of them physically recoiled. Some people argue that conversing with digital versions of lost loved ones could prolong your grief or loosen your grip on reality. I spoke to one man who’d created a virtual version of his mother, which he booted up and talked to at her own funeral. People might turn to digital replicas for comfort, or to mark special milestones like anniversaries.Īt the same time, the technology and the world it’s enabling are, unsurprisingly, imperfect, and the ethics of creating a virtual version of someone are complex, especially if that person hasn’t been able to provide consent.įor some, this tech may even be alarming, or downright creepy. But their avatars offer a glimpse at a world where it’s possible to converse with loved ones-or simulacra of them-long after they’re gone.įrom what I could glean over a dozen conversations with my virtually deceased parents, this really will make it easier to keep close the people we love. My real, flesh-and-blood parents are still alive and well their virtual versions were just made to help me understand the technology. But now it’s becoming a reality-and an increasingly accessible one, thanks to advances in AI and voice technology. ![]() It’s an idea that’s been peddled by charlatans and spiritualists for centuries. Technology like this, which lets you “talk” to people who’ve died, has been a mainstay of science fiction for decades. ![]()
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