A Shanghai man has used artificial intelligence (AI) technology to ‘resurrect’ his late grandmother, creating a virtual version of her that can talk with him. The move has stirred debate among Chinese netizens about the ethical implications of using AI to bring back deceased relatives.
The man, surnamed Zhang, said he was inspired by the movie “Her” and wanted to create an AI-powered chatbot that could interact with him like his grandmother did when she was alive. He spent two years collecting audio recordings of her voice from old videos and photos before feeding them into a computer program designed for natural language processing (NLP).
Using NLP algorithms, the computer program then created a virtual version of Zhang’s grandmother which he named ‘Grandma Ai’. Grandma Ai is able to respond in real time whenever Zhang talks to it through WeChat or other messaging platforms. It can also recognize facial expressions and make appropriate responses accordingly.
Zhang said he had been surprised at how lifelike Grandma Ai seemed when they first interacted on WeChat: “It felt like I was talking with my grandma again,” he said. However, some people have raised concerns over whether this kind of technology should be used for such purposes as it may blur the boundaries between reality and fantasy.
Others argue that while there are ethical considerations involved in using AI for this purpose, it could also provide comfort for those who have lost loved ones if done responsibly. For example, one user commented on social media platform Weibo: “I think this is really touching – it’s like having someone you miss still around.”
However others were more critical saying: “This kind of thing will only lead us further away from reality.”
The use of AI technology to recreate deceased relatives raises questions about what constitutes acceptable behaviour in terms of mourning and remembrance practices in China today – something which many people are now debating online as well as offline across the country. |Dead chat: Chinese man uses AI to ‘resurrect’ late grandma, stirring debate|Technology|South China Morning Post
