Advent of AI has got us connected to the dead

It brings solace to people who have lost their dear ones

The idea sounds like a ray of hope, but it still sounds bizarre

For centuries now we’ve been hearing stories of people trying to connect with the dead. Stories of being possessed or talking to the dead are very common. Though many claim they speak to the dead through various means, the topic has always been debatable.

The advent of AI has got to us yet another technology where one can connect to the dead. This technology brings solace to people who have lost their near and dear ones by staying connected with them. Though the idea sounds like a ray of hope to people who have lost their loved ones, it still sounds bizarre.

Also read: Humans may run the risk of being replaced by Artificial Intelligence; IMF chief warns

So how is it to connect with the dead?

When we spoke to Dr Manika Ghosh, professor of Psychology and author, Director, Eudaimonic centre, this is what she said: “AI is nothing but a collation of data and this whole thing is nothing but an artificial soother. By creating something like this, the person suffering from the loss may never be able to get away from the loss.”

She further adds that life and death are a natural process. Grieving for their loved ones is very natural but overcoming it and letting the phase pass is what life is all about. Our human brain is designed in such a way that it learns to tackle from the loss slowly however traumatic and move on. But if an app to soothe grief is created, we are interfering with the natural process of healing. It can happen that the person may never recover or never accept the fact that their loved ones are no more.

She urges that such apps are nothing but a mockery of the dead. She felt the dignity of both the person dead and the person who is living should be kept.

As per The Metro, the documentary Eternal You brings viewers face-to-face with people like Christi Angel from New York, who used AI to chat with a long-lost friend who had passed away named Cameroun. Angel found out that Cameroun had died due to the pandemic and wanted to reconnect with him through a service known as Project December.

This $10 AI simulation occurred to the point where it was inputting information about Cameroun’s life and having a conversation with a digital version of her. After that, things only turned really creepy when it said that it was in “hell” and was going to “haunt” her.

In fact, to Jason Rohrer, creator of Project December, this sort of unpredictable AI response is more akin to an AI “black box” problem: something developers themselves cannot predict. While these results fascinate Rohrer himself, he doesn’t take responsibility for potentially influencing the moods of users like Angel. That has engendered frustration in some who believe creators should be more responsible.

An example of it being able to evoke such strong reactions was in 2020 in the Korean television show Meeting You. One of those mothers was Jang Ji-sung, who lost her seven-year-old daughter, Nayeon. She finds a digital recreation of her child, an event that feels deep in technology, grief, and closure. That only goes to show how much these matters, on the question of interacting with a digital simulation of a beloved human, are deeply personal.

AI has definitely penetrated deep into our lives but we still have our brains with us, so let’s put that to use and not get entangled in the web of technology.

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