Black Mirror Come to Life: People Are Creating AI Versions of Dead Relatives to Help Them Cope

Tech Xplore - Stricken by grief, Wu and his wife have joined a growing number of Chinese people turning to AI technology to create lifelike avatars of their departed.

Ultimately Wu wants to build a fully realistic replica that behaves just like his dead son but dwells in virtual reality.

"Once we synchronize reality and the metaverse, I'll have my son with me again," Wu said.

"I can train him... so that when he sees me, he knows I'm his father."

Some Chinese firms claim to have created thousands of "digital people" from as little as 30 seconds of audiovisual material of the deceased.

Experts say they can offer much-needed comfort for people devastated by the loss of loved ones.

Whenever Black Mirror first hit the scene, the phrase, "This is like an episode of Black Mirror" became wildly overused. Basically any bit of new technology that hit the market was likened to Black Mirror. So I hate to use that phrase, but in this case.. this is quite literally an episode of Black Mirror.

I guess in real life, the AI dead person avatars only live in the phone. They're not actual human robots or whatever the hell the red headed guy in Black Mirror is supposed to be. But it's the same concept. Either way, this is a bad idea, right? It seems like a bad idea. I just can't imagine this is a healthy way to cope with death. You know how there's 5 stages of grief. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Well I feel like paying a couple thousand dollars to resurrect your loved one in AI form is as "in denial" as you can possibly be.

Or maybe I'm wrong. I'm sure this has been helpful for some people. There's probably a responsible way to go about having a relationship with your dead family member avatar. Maybe on Christmas you can break out AI grandpa to say the family prayer, or play a game of charades. There's probably some healthy ways to use this technology once you've fully accepted that your loved one is gone. 

Anyways, enough with the sad stuff. I don't like thinking about that. What's really important here is that if we have the technology to clone AI avatars of dead people, then there's a way we can do it with people who are still alive. 

Consider cloning a friend and making him say embarrassing things. Take Barstool employees for example. We could theoretically create a Jersey Jerry clone, but make him a huge lib. Consider AI Jersey Jerry fielding questions at a press conference where he waxes poetically about all the great things Joe Biden has done for America. That's hilarious. Or making a Dave clone who's exactly like Dave in every way except he's a huge Ohio State fan. The possibilities are endless.

Although... having endless possibilities presents a whole new problem. Like.. a huge problem. A disturbing problem. Ok... now I think I this technology should be banned entirely. You know what I'm talking about right? We shouldn't have the power to create hyper realistic, conscious versions of whoever the hell we want and make them do whatever the hell we want them to. That's so bad. There are way too many fucked up people out there. That should be illegal. It's fairly harmless to make an AI clone of a loved one, or to make Lib Jersey Jerry... but once we have that technology readily available... that's one slippery ass slope. Like an episode of Black Mirror.