Today, I found myself reading an article in The Atlantic called No One Is Ready For Digital Immortality. Several companies have emerged that allow you to train an AI chatbot from emails and texts of a loved one who has died.
Is this a good idea?
Let’s see.
What is it that we love about our loved ones? Do we love their thoughts and opinions? Do we love the tone of their voices? Do we love the way they smell? Do we love the meals they prepare? Do we love some of their other actions?
With enough audio samples, a chatbot may be able to replicate someone’s tone of voice. With enough video footage, a chatbot may be able to display a video representation of someone. Heck, you could probably even talk to a 3-D video image of your loved one!
At least for now, I don’t think we need to worry about a chatbot smelling like one of your loved ones. That could change in the future.
However, I think it’s going to be a long time before a robot that looks and sounds (and smells) like one of your loved ones can take the actions that relate to your feelings of love for that person.
So at least for now, talking to a Deathbot isn’t going to be close enough to the actual experience of talking to a loved one.
What if it was?
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