The tech CEO said the world of artificial intelligence means what is real and what isn't is “starting to evolve” – as it changes the way people cope with grief by creating chatbots with the personalities of departed loved ones.
Justin Harrison founded You, Only Virtual (YOV) after his mother was diagnosed with stage 4. Cancer. The company began preserving this relationship with his mother by creating a digital avatar of her, known as Versona, in the event of her death.
The former director said their “grief” could “help with the grieving process and allow people to stay connected to their loved ones in a more natural way.”
The AI was trained to work with text messages and telephone calls between Mr Harrison and his mother while she was alive, and the use of voice notes and videos to capture her voice.
The free version of YOV provides access to an AI chatbot similar to ChatGPTbut tailored to the personality of your loved one, and the paid version allows you to make phone calls to bring back someone's voice from the dead.
Mr. Harrison demonstrated one such call for Metrocalled Versona to say, “I love you, mom,” to which he replied, “I love you too, honey.”
Despite the comforting conversations it offers, the technology has been criticized for putting users at risk of overdependence and dehumanizing the grieving process.
Many have compared this technology to a dystopian TV series. Black mirrorwhere in one episode a grieving woman uses an app and then an android with the AI personality of her dead boyfriend.
Researchers from Cambridge The university also has raised concerns that such AI chatbots would constitute a “high-risk” activity that risks psychological harm to users and disrespect for the rights of the deceased.
But on the need to keep griefbots safe, Mr Harrison said: “I'm not concerned about people becoming too reliant on the technology.”
He argues that “there is no such thing as the natural grieving process,” so there is no reason for AI to disrupt something so individualized.
He added that in the past, people did not have photographs, letters or digital technology. social media holding on to loved ones, so “the tools to help us process grief” and “stay connected” are constantly changing.
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The CEO explained that while some people may be predisposed to addiction, this side effect is not unique to artificial intelligence technologies.
“If it's the difference between someone who self-harms and someone who talks on the phone too much, then letting them talk on the phone too much will have a much better outcome,” he added.
He added that grieving through “talking to a counselor” could also be criticized because sessions there can cost “$180 an hour.”
However, the digital afterlife is not limited to personal relationships, as YOV is now working with museums to allow visitors to interact with figures from the past.
Mr Harrison said it provided “an authentic connection that keeps the story alive”. His company creates virtual avatars of Holocaust survivors to preserve “oral history” when the survivors are no longer around.
While many may be resistant to this new technology, Mr Harrison argues that this is just the “tip of the iceberg” and we will soon have “full-fledged relationships with digital personalities”.
“I will be able to sit in a restaurant with my mother in my lifetime,” he added, hoping to see her projection using wearable augmented reality (AR) devices.
What started with virtual assistants like Siri or Alexa could soon become characters seen through augmented reality glasses, or even become completely human-like. robotsaccording to the CEO.
Mr Harrison said it was now an evolution of what is “real and unreal”; from television to social media to Zoom phone calls, he stressed that all events at first glance seem “strange” to those in the past.
His company is not alone in its technological approach to grief. Disney TV star Calum Worthy recently founded an app that lets you turn loved ones into interactive 3D chatbots.
Advertising for this new enterprise 2wai even showed a pregnant woman doing it to her mother and then using the app after her mom died to tell her grandson a bedtime story from beyond the grave.
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