{"id":116699,"date":"2025-10-01T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/?post_type=ftm_article&p=116699"},"modified":"2025-10-01T14:19:41","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T18:19:41","slug":"ai-deadbots","status":"publish","type":"ftm_article","link":"https:\/\/www.freethink.com\/artificial-intelligence\/ai-deadbots","title":{"rendered":"AI deadbots can keep \u201cyou\u201d around after death \u2014 what does that mean for the living?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On August 4, 2025, independent journalist Jim Acosta published a video interview with 17-year-old Joaquin Oliver<\/a>. But he wasn\u2019t talking to the real Joaquin \u2014 that person was killed during the Parkland high school shooting in 2018. The figure speaking in the clip looked and sounded like Joaquin, but it was actually an AI-powered virtual avatar that his father, Manuel, had developed to bring attention to the issue of school shootings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The interview sparked backlash<\/a> online, with critics calling the AI<\/a> exploitative (not to mention awkward, given its tendency to give glitchy responses and ask Acosta weird questions), but it reflects a growing reality: We can now use AI to create versions of real people that can live on long after their bodies die. Are we entering the era of digital immortality?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Virtual resurrection<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The AI avatar that Acosta interviewed is an example of a \u201cdeadbot\u201d or \u201cgriefbot.\u201d These are AIs trained on a deceased person\u2019s texts, videos, voicemails, photos, social media posts, and more so that they can hold conversations from the person\u2019s perspective. And they\u2019re just one example of how a growing digital afterlife industry is using AI to keep people alive after death. The online genealogy platform MyHeritage<\/a> offers a \u201cdeep nostalgia\u201d service that animates old photos, making deceased people appear to come to life. The AI company You, Only Virtual<\/a> helps customers create \u201cversonas\u201d \u2014 digital versions of themselves that can communicate with loved ones after they die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The websites for these services feature glowing reviews, and news reports suggest most users believe they bring positive value to their lives. As far as concrete data goes, though, the only studies that exist so far tend to hypothesize on the potential impact of deadbots, rather than provide clear data on their effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The potential psychological effect, particularly at an already difficult time, could be devastating.”<\/p>Tomasz Hollanek<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For a 2025 paper<\/a> published by the Association for Computing Machinery, researchers interviewed 18 people about the potential for an AI agent to carry on their legacy. Reactions were mixed and nuanced. Interviewees thought the deadbots could preserve their memory and might help their loved ones with initial grief. However, they also expressed concerns the AIs would lose value over time, impose mental and social pressures on people interacting with them, and even diminish the value of living by blurring the line between life and death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, a Cambridge University paper<\/a> published in the journal Philosophy and Technology highlighted several practical and ethical issues around the use of deadbots. One is the lack of consent from \u201cdata donors\u201d to be made into deadbots. Other questions concerned who gets to decide how deadbots can be used once created. Could outside companies try to advertise products through them? And how could providers ensure that unsubscribing from deadbot services feels respectful to the deceased?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese services run the risk of causing huge distress to people if they are subjected to unwanted digital hauntings from alarmingly accurate AI recreations of those they have lost,\u201d said co-author Tomasz Hollanek, an AI ethicist from Cambridge\u2019s Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence<\/a>. \u201cThe potential psychological effect, particularly at an already difficult time, could be devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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