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We’ve discussed chatbots before but, this time, there’s a specific kind that’s starting to draw attention. Since social media’s take-off into our culture, we’ve seen instances where account owners have passed on and their profiles were turned into active memorials for the deceased—where loved ones can leave messages on the late user’s page (often memories or even updates for live events celebrating the person who has passed).
Artificial intelligence (AI) has changed the way we can grieve, though, with the use of griefbots. A newer form of chatbot, these programs range in complexity (and cost) from text responses to deepfake videos that mimic calls on apps like Zoom or FaceTime. While still an emerging market, there are several companies that are starting to establish themselves as a kind of digital medium.
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Keypoint Intelligence Opinion
Because they are so new in the digital world, griefbots are a gray area that need to be approached carefully. While they can be a way for us to ween ourselves off missing a beloved parent, grandparent, or spouse, there is no real basis in the more practical aspects of griefbots; this can lead to more harm than good. Who owns the rights to the digital copy of the deceased? What happens to the griefbot once those mourning no longer want or need to speak with them? What happens to all the data used to compile the large language model that makes up the griefbot? Can it be used to build other bots for different people later or is it scrubbed from the servers?
Pop culture has given us two models of how griefbots could become if we continue to use them. In Star Trek Discovery’s episode “Whistlespeak”, Dr. Hugh Culber speaks to an AI copy of his abuela about the mofongo she used to make and how his doesn’t taste the same. In Black Mirror’s episode “Be Right Back”, distraught Martha discovers that she can create an AI of her late boyfriend Ash and (eventually) an android copy of him. While both examples give the characters chances to speak again to their lost loved ones, neither is truly satisfied with the results—a foreboding omen of what could come if we don’t handle griefbots with the same reverence as we do the actual dead.
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