Death in the age of AI: Chinese use this tool to digitally resurrect relatives

In a quiet cemetery in eastern ChinaSeakoo Wu takes out his phone, places it on the headstone of his son’s grave and watches a video showing the deceased young man.

They are words that the deceased student never said, but that were created by artificial intelligence (AI).

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“I know that every day you feel great pain for me, and you feel guilty and worthless,” Xuanmo expresses in a slightly robotic voice.

“Although I will not be able to be by your side again, my soul is still in this world, accompanying you in life.”

Overcome with grief, Wu and his wife joined the growing number of Chinese who are turning to AI technology to create avatars of their loved ones.

Seakoo Wu and his wife have turned to AI to cope with the pain of losing a child. (Photo: AFP)

Wu hopes to create an authentic replica that behaves like his deceased son in the virtual reality world.

“When we synchronize reality and the metaverse, I will have my son with me again,” Wu expressed.

“I can train him (…) so that when he sees me he knows that I am his father.”

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Some Chinese firms claim to have created thousands of “digital personas,” even from 30 seconds of audiovisual material of the deceased.

Experts say they can offer important relief to people devastated by the loss of a loved one.

A growing demand

Wu and his wife were devastated when Xuanmo, their only son, died last year of a sudden stroke at age 22 while studying at Britain’s Exeter University.

His father remembers him as a young man who “always carried the desire to help others.”

Following the rise of AI technologies like ChatGPT in China, Wu began looking for ways to resurrect it.

He collected photos, videos and audio of his son, and spent thousands of dollars with AI firms that replicated Xuanmo’s face and voice.

The results are rudimentary for now, but he also assembled a work team to create a database with a large amount of information about his son.

Wu hopes to feed it to powerful algorithms to create an avatar capable of copying his son’s thinking and speech with great precision.

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Several companies specializing in so-called “ghost bots” have emerged in recent years in the United States.

But the industry is booming in China, according to Zhang Zewei, founder of AI firm Super Brain and a former collaborator of Wu.

“China is at the highest level in the world in AI technology,” said Zhang from the city of Jiangyin.

“There are a lot of people in China, many with emotional needs, which gives us an advantage in terms of market demand.”

Seakoo Wu has invested in creating a digital version of his son. This is a trend that has been growing in China. (Photo: AFP)

Super Brain charges 10,000 to 20,000 yuan ($1,400 to $2,800) for a basic avatar, Zhang said.

Clients range from bereaved to heartbroken ex-boyfriends who want to spend more time with their former partner.

Customers can even speak on the phone with an employee whose face and voice are altered to resemble those of the deceased person.

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“The meaning for the entire world is enormous,” he said. “The digital version of someone can exist forever.”

“New humanism”

Sima Huapeng, founder of Silicon Intelligence in Nanjing, said the technology “will bring a new kind of humanism.”

He compared it to portraiture and photography, which helped people remember the dead in ways that were revolutionary in their time.

Tal Morse, a visiting researcher at the Center on Death and Society at the University of Bath, England, said death bots can provide relief.

But he cautioned that more research is needed to understand the ethical and psychological implications.

“A key question is (…) how ‘loyal’ the ‘ghost bots’ are to the personality they were designed to imitate,” Morse questioned.

“What happens if they do things that ‘contaminate’ the memory of the person they are supposed to represent?” he told AFP.

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For Super Brain’s Zhang, every new technology is “a double-edged sword.”

“As long as we help those who need it, I don’t see a problem.”

He does not work with people for whom it would have a negative impact, he said, recalling the case of a woman who tried to commit suicide after the death of her daughter.

Grieving father Wu commented that Xuanmo would “probably be willing” to be digitally revived.

“One day, son, we will all meet in the metaverse,” he said while his wife cried in front of their son’s grave. “Technology improves every day (…) it is a matter of time.”

Source: Elcomercio