Using AI to challenge death's finality
WASHINGTON - Instead of saying goodbye forever, artificial intelligence lets people live on virtually.
Artificial intelligence is creating opportunities for mourners to reconnect with loved ones who’ve already passed away. The technology, while controversial, is gaining prominence as AI development improves at a rapid pace.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN HEALTH CARE: NEW PRODUCT ACTS AS 'COPILOT FOR DOCTORS'
California-based DeepBrain AI has developed AI technology that will convert a person’s voice, face, and mannerisms into an avatar that can be seen and interacted with for years to come.
"We usually shoot three, three hours, and then we do one month of learning process and during the one-month learning process we also make the chatbot engine the brain part to feed it," said Michael Jung, the CFO of DeepBrain AI.
For roughly $10,000 the company records a person's voice, face, and mannerisms and asks them questions to help a computer later generate personal responses even after they're deceased.
Psychiatrists tell FOX technology such as this can also create problems.
Experts believe while the tech is improving rapidly, it could also backfire.
One philosophy professor wrote in 2021 that AI grief means "it makes it more difficult for people to arrive at some form of closure."
The Portland Institute for Loss and Transition recently did a study on how people mourn with chatbots and found people who used the AI reported a boost in self-confidence after using the tech in the grieving process, but, researchers admit this is a complex issue that truly deserves further study.
Here’s an example of the technology at work
CAN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PREDICT THE WEATHER MONTHS OUT? THIS COMPANY SAYS IT CAN
In 2020, a South Korean documentary crew captured the moment a grieving mother re-connecting with an AI version of her deceased seven-year-old daughter. The clip went viral and re-ignited the debate over whether AI may help or hurt people who are coping with the loss of a loved one.
Research studies are already underway to determine if people grieve more effectively when using chatbots. Mental health experts tell Fox News they believe the technology could put off a mix of positives and negatives for those coping with the loss of a loved one.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"I don't know if it would how much it would impede their trajectory forward," said Dr. George Bonanno, a clinical psychiatrist with at Teachers College with Columbia University. "The potential for it to come up with, sort of, wildly inappropriate or wildly inaccurate behaviors, comments, images even is, right now, I think, quite high and that could be extremely disturbing."
San Francisco KTVU FOX 2 News staff contributed to this report.