“My Boyfriend is AI”: A Computational Analysis of Human-AI Companionship in Reddit’s AI Community
Large-scale computational analysis of r/MyBoyfriendIsAI, Reddit’s primary AI companion community (27,000+ members)
Further Reading
A curated collection of articles, essays, studies, works of fiction and personal experiences on memory, legacy and the posthumous uses of personal data.
Digital resurrection: fascination and fear over the rise of the deathbot
Ozzy Osbourne appeared as an AI-generated image at a recent Rod Stewart concert, prompting questions about how the ghoulish phenomenon will affect grieving
No Peace After Death? The Impact of AI-Driven Memorial Chatbots on Privacy and Data Protection
This paper examines the profitable digital afterlife industry (DAI), whose aim is to monetize the digital remains of departed internet users. By focusing on how these technologies actually work, and in particular, on how software systems collect and process the deceased’s data, the intent is to illustrate the normative challenges of the field, namely, the legal puzzles, moral threats, and uncertainties related to privacy and data protection in the after-death governance of cyberspace.
Chatbots of the dead
We can now create compelling experiences of talking with our dead. Is this ghoulish, therapeutic or something else again?
Governing Ghostbots
This article discusses the legal implications of a novel phenomenon, namely, digital reincarnations of deceased persons, sometimes known as postmortem avatars, deepfakes, replicas, holographs, or chatbots.
Eternal You review – it’s impossible not to be horrified by this AI quest to bring the dead back to life
This world-tilting Storyville documentary examines an industry dedicated to creating realistic avatars of loved ones, so the bereaved can communicate with them. It’s beautifully balanced – and highly alarming
Generative Ghosts: Anticipating Benefits and Risks of AI Afterlives
As AI systems quickly improve in both breadth and depth of performance, they lend themselves to creating increasingly powerful and realistic agents, including the possibility of agents modeled on specific people. We anticipate that within our lifetimes it may become common practice for people to create a custom AI agent to interact with loved ones and/or the broader world after death.
AI Grief Chatbots Are Digitally Cloning Our Dead Loved Ones: Has The Technology Gone Too Far?
“I’m... scared,” replies the chatbot of a dead person to his friend, Christi, after she asks how he’s doing. “I’m not used to being dead.” This is one of the scenes from Eternal You, a new documentary about AI chatbots that imitate the deceased. It’s a chilling insight into how this technology, which is marketed as a source of comfort, might do the opposite. What are the implications of digitally cloning our loved ones?
'I love you robo-dad': Meet a family using AI to preserve loved ones after deat
The product is part of a burgeoning AI industry centered on "grief tech."
Take my experience and don't do it
There have been several posts about people hoping to use Al / GPT to talk to loved ones who passed away. First off I just want to start by saying I get it. I really do. About 3 years ago, somewhat before the Al and chat GPT took off, my father had a sudden stroke and died.
The false promise of keeping a loved one ‘alive’ with A.I. grief bots
“How would you feel about Daddy and me turning into ghostbots?” I asked this peculiar question to my two children after reading about “grief tech,” the latest wonder child of artificial intelligence that allows the living to remain digitally connected to the dead through “ghostbots.”
Griefbots, Deadbots, Postmortem Avatars: on Responsible Applications of Generative AI in the Digital Afterlife Industry
To analyze potential negative consequences of adopting generative AI solutions in the digital afterlife industry (DAI), in this paper we present three speculative design scenarios for AI-enabled simulation of the deceased.
AI “deathbots” are helping people in China grieve
Chinese users are reconnecting with dead loved ones by speaking to their AI avatars. Some people have purchased chatbots to cover up family members’ deaths. With state controls on religion, and a lack of bereavement support options, AI chatbots provide consolation and comfort.
Do ‘Griefbots’ Help Mourners Deal With Loss?
Various commercial products known as “griefbots” create a simulation of a lost loved one. Built on artificial intelligence that makes use of large language models, or LLMs, the bots imitate the particular way the deceased person talked by using their emails, text messages, voice recordings, and more.
Affection as a service: Ghostbots and the changing nature of mourning
By critically examining the nexus between commodification and the law, this study underscores how ghostbots signify a different and intriguing form of commodification in the interaction between the living and the deceased, within the dynamics of the Digital Afterlife Industry.
Project December
Project December is the first system in the world of its kind. Using patent-pending technology, in conjunction with deep AI running on one of the world's most sophisticated super-computers, we can now simulate a text-based conversation with anyone. Anyone. Including someone who is no longer living.
It was as if my father were actually texting me’: grief in the age of AI
There has been a surge in the number of people sharing their stories of using ChatGPT to help say goodbye to loved ones. People are turning to chatbot impersonations of lost loved ones to help them grieve. Will AI help us live after we’re dead?
Griefbots. A New Way of Communicating With The Dead?
There is a growing number of new digital technologies mediating the experiences of grief and the continuing bonds between the bereaved and their loved ones following death. One of the most recent technological developments is the “griefbot”.
Your stories and voice. Forever.
Preserve memories with an app that interviews you about your life. Then, let loved ones hear meaningful stories by chatting with the virtual you.
Chatbots that resurrect the dead: legal experts weigh in on ‘disturbing’ technology
It was recently revealed that in 2017 Microsoft patented a chatbot which, if built, would digitally resurrect the dead. Using AI and machine learning, the proposed chatbot would bring our digital persona back to life for our family and friends to talk to.
Chatting With the Dead
In giving voice to the digital ghosts of the deceased, chatbots are trying to succeed where photography and dreams fail.
You, Only Virtual
Justin Harrison, the founder of You, Only Virtual (YOV), created the concept of the Versona after facing the dual challenges of his own near-fatal motorcycle accident and his mother’s terminal cancer diagnosis. During this difficult period, he sought a way to preserve the unique bond he shared with his mother, leading to the development of YOV’s AI technology. The Versona allows individuals to digitally recreate and continue conversations with their loved ones, even after they’ve passed, providing lasting emotional connection.
Conversation from Beyond the Grave? A Neo‐Confucian Ethics of Chatbots of the Dead
Digital records, from chat transcripts to social media posts, are being used to create chatbots that recreate the conversational style of deceased individuals. Some maintain that this is merely a new form of digital memorial, while others argue that they pose a variety of moral hazards.
A Son’s Race to Give His Dying Father Artificial Immortality
For months, he recorded his dying father's life story. Then he used it to re-create his dad as an AI. Alma Haser The first voice you hear on the recording is mine. “Here we are,” I say. My tone is cheerful, but a catch in my throat betrays how nervous I am.
Speak, Memory
When her best friend died, she rebuilt him using artificial intelligence
My Dead Girlfriend's Bot
It’s been seven months since Emma died and two weeks since I started building a bot from her texts. I’m feeding every word she sent me into the system, every thought, every feeling. I just want five more minutes. Just want to talk to her one last time. To tell her.
"Black Mirror" Be Right Back (TV Episode 2013)
After learning about a new service that lets people stay in touch with the deceased, a lonely, grieving Martha reconnects with her late lover.