How AI is already letting people talk to the dead

It may sound like science fiction, but undertakers and tech-savvy people in China have already started using AI tools to create realistic avatars of deceased people.

Using a combination of tools like chatbot ChatGPT and Midjourney imager, as well as photographs and voice recordings, funeral companies are beginning to create an interpretation of a deceased loved one that families and friends of the deceased can “communicate with,” Guangzhou Daily reported via the Straits Times.

The debut of this technology was supposed to take place during the recent Qingming Festival, or Grave Sweeping Day, celebrated on April 5 by ethnic Chinese around the world. Traditionally, Chinese people use this holiday to honor the dead by cleaning and decorating graves, burning paper and making offerings.

However, as times modernize, people are finding more technologically advanced ways to deal with the death of someone they care about. Bloggers from the Chinese video hosting Bilibili shared their experience of using AI to communicate with deceased loved ones.

One blogger, Wu Wuliu, uploaded a video to the platform in March titled “Creating My Grandmother’s Virtual Digital Human Using AI Tools,” which details how she used ChatGPT, AI painting, and speech synthesis to create a moving avatar of her late grandmother. He talked about growing up in a single-parent family and being raised by his father and grandmother, as well as his regrets about not being able to see her one last time before she died. Thanks to technology, he was able to do it.

“The video I made is mainly meant to ease my regrets with AI technology and help me not think about the past so much,” he said in a blog post, according to The Straits Times.

Similarly, Shanghai Fushouyun, a company known for its digital funeral services, began organizing AI-assisted funerals in January 2022. The first such funeral was for a Chinese surgeon who had many colleagues and students upset because he couldn’t say goodbye in person. . However, at the ceremony, they were able to talk to the AI ​​version of him.

“We hope that the living understand that death is not the end of life. People want to use AI to bring back the dead because they need to release their emotions,” said Yu Hao, CEO of Fushouyun, in an interview with Guangzhou Daily.

The leader warns that problems can arise if people end up drowning in their emotions. However, most of them reported positive experiences using AI to communicate with their deceased loved ones. Some other funeral companies are even working on using AI to help people mourn their dead pets.