A Canadian man's plan to bring his late celebrity wife back to life in the form of artificial intelligence has raised many ethical questions about extending human existence in the digital universe.
Alan Hamel, Canadian entertainer and longtime television host, I recently told people he created an “AI twin” of Hollywood star Suzanne Somers, his wife and partner of 55 years, who died in 2023 from breast cancer.
Hamel, 89, told People magazine that the AI bot was trained on Somers' books and interviews, “so she's really ready to be asked and answered any question at all.”
He said the bot was Somers' idea and they talked about it for years before she died. He said that in the near future, her AI likeness will appear on her website, where it will communicate 24/7 with fans who miss her.
“When you look at the finished painting next to the real Suzanne, you won't notice the difference,” he told People magazine.
CBC News reached out to Hamel but had not received a response at the time of publication.
“20 million layers of complexity”
Brazilian artificial intelligence ethicist Catarina Doria says it is important to be careful about putting someone back into the form of artificial intelligence.
As people make videos of dead celebrities without their consent for entertainment purposes, the daughter of late comedian Robin Williams said she it was “disgusting” to see a video of him last month – Doria says this scenario is more complex.
“I think it's very difficult to answer the question of whether it's right or wrong, good or bad. I think there are 20 million levels of difficulty,” she told CBC News.
Doria says she's worried that many people are trying to understand what's really going on on the Internet, and this can cause unexpected problems when humans interact with bots like AI Somers.
She gives the example of a recent American megachurch pastor. using a faux video of the late conservative pundit Charlie Kirk making him say something he never said in real life, leaving viewers confused. Despite the disclaimer that it was AI-generated, many online commenters were unsure whether it was Kirk's real video or whether it used audio from something he said when he was alive.
“We have to really think about — are people aware and literate enough about artificial intelligence and generative artificial intelligence to understand that this person, this thing, whoever is talking on the other side, is a cosplay of a person?” she said.
“I think there needs to be a conversation about AI literacy.”
Doria says the ability to create AI versions of dead people plays a role in the “pandemic of loneliness” and could lead to even greater isolation for people.
She said it's similar to apps like Character.AI, which allow people to chat with bots playing the roles of celebrities and fictional characters, as well as companion bots. with whom some people become romantically involved.
“I, as an AI ethicist, and other experts fear that this will push people away from society, peace and true human love,” she said.
Dead robots are not regulated
Companies such as Eternos, StoryFile and HereAfter AI are already benefiting from creating realistic AI avatars for bereaved people.
With access to a deceased person's social media logins, these businesses can create “dead bots,” also known as “griefbots” or “AI ghosts,” that imitate their personality.
Cambridge University researchers have expressed concern about dead robots, including that in the future they may be used by companies to serve advertisements to users or send unwanted notifications to loved ones.
Jason Millar, Canada Chair in Ethical Engineering of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Ottawa, says it's time for people to think about how they manage their digital presence after death.
“It just adds another layer of complexity to this conversation given that there is the possibility of reanimating the dead in the form of ChatGPT,” he told CBC News.
Millar says he understands the appeal of digitally cloning a loved one, but worries that people are missing out on the grieving process and end up blocking themselves from healing and future happiness.
He says it also raises a lot of ethical questions, especially in a case like Somers, where her AI avatar would potentially be interacting with a large number of people.
For example, Millar asks what if the creator eventually wants to turn it off? And who has the right to this if other people are attached to it?
He says he's also concerned that this is happening in an area that has little regulation.
“I I think a lot of people might be uncomfortable thinking about these kinds of issues, but I don't think we can ignore them anymore,” he said.
“As far as I know, there are absolutely no rules currently preventing anyone from doing this.”
Artificial intelligence technologies are becoming easier to use
James Hutson head of human-centered AI programming and research at Lindenwood University in Missouri, says Somers' AI twin blurs the line between a dead bot and a bot that is used for commercial or entertainment purposes.
But he expects the trend of using AI to revive the dead to continue as the technology becomes easier to use.
Hutson sees this as a natural progression of the human tendency to maintain relationships with lost loved ones, noting that even in the Middle Ages people made wax masks of the dead.
“The ability to maintain connections with our loved ones after death is fundamental to human history and culture,” he said.
Hutson studies people's perception of artificially intelligent avatarsand found that the vast majority of them draw the line at “embodied” AI, or downloading a dead robot into a physical robotic form.
But as these technologies become the norm, he says, that could change.
“That’s the next step, right? Do you want your digital consciousness to live in the material world, so to speak, in some type of robotics?” – he said.
