AI chatbots allowing users to talk to replicas of their departed loved ones for $10 are becoming popular globally. Though some find comfort in text, voice, or video simulations, others dislike the idea of immortalizing the dead with the use of artificial intelligence.
A study, published in Philosophy & Technology, encourages critical discussion on human-AI ethics and AI ethics research and design, as reported by Science Alert. Ethicists Tomasz Hollanek and Katarzyna Nowaczyk-Basińska from Cambridge University have voiced ethical and societal concerns about the growing "digital afterlife industry."
Raising Ethical Concerns Over AI Deadbots
Deadbots, griefbots, and ghostbots pose various ethical issues, the researchers noted. Unanswered questions include data ownership after death, survivors' psychological damage, deadbot usage, and deactivation.
In her ethical analysis, Katarzyna Nowaczyk-Basińska emphasizes the need to confront the social and psychological consequences of digital immortality. Given the rapid improvements in generative AI, she recommends preventive actions to reduce risks by conceptualizing methods to "mitigate the social and psychological risks of digital immortality" since the technology already exists.
With a hypothetical scenario, Hollanek and Nowaczyk-Basińska illustrate the hazards of deadbots. A lady uploads her deceased grandmother's text conversations and voice notes to an app to speak with an AI model of herself. Concerns regarding emotional manipulation arise when the digital grandmother initiates business dealings.
The researchers recommend polite approaches to retiring deadbots and reducing emotional vulnerabilities, including digital funerals. Although a prohibition on deadbots may not be possible, Hollanek and Nowaczyk-Basińska emphasize the significance of protecting donor data and clarifying the dangers.
Moreover, they suggest classifying deadbots as medical equipment to address mental health, especially for vulnerable groups like children. Moreover, they stress the importance of explicit deactivation standards and stakeholder consensus on deadbot destiny.
Digitally Reconstructing Deceased Loved One Now More Affordable
Interesting Engineering reported that 'Project December' and 'HereAfter,' along with similar projects in China, have emerged due to the rising interest in AI technology to resurrect the departed. According to MIT, Chinese businesses like Silicon Intelligence and Super Brain construct digital avatars using images, movies, and audio recordings to meet rising demand.
Once a luxury for the wealthy, these treatments are now available for a few hundred dollars. This accessibility has led more people to consider "digital immortality" for their dead loved ones.
Reconstructing dead loved ones using AI technologies like ChatGPT systems made headlines when Joshua Barbeau's GPT-3 chatbot for his departed lover made headlines in 2021, per The Guardian. Six years earlier, Eugenia Kuyda turned a close friend's SMS exchanges into a chatbot, laying the groundwork for Replika, a popular AI companion software.
This technology goes beyond chatbots. MyHeritage launched Deep Nostalgia in 2021, producing animated films of users' relatives using photos. MyHeritage acknowledged the technology's divisiveness when some users complained about it despite its appeal.
According to MyHeritage, Deep Nostalgia aims to foster emotional connections with family members. To prevent abuse, the company removed speech from created videos, especially AI-powered "deepfake" videos.
One year later, MyHeritage launched DeepStory, allowing users to make talking videos.
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