Digital Necromancy: a new way to grieve
Should we be worried about the role AI is playing with death?
It seems AI could be doing much more than writing your CV or university coursework, it could bring back your loved ones from the dead... in a way.
The rapid development of technology means that AI can analyse videos, pictures, voice recordings and writing to recreate the appearance, sound and even personality of someone in a hologram.
If you have a wide enough digital footprint you could train AI to live on as a digital 'you' even after your death.
The risks of artificial intelligence range from job losses to global existential crisis. So where does talking to a dead loved one lie on the spectrum of AI risks?
Whilst some think the idea of ‘bringing back’ dead people will benefit those in grief, others are worried about the ethical and privacy concerns it raises.
AI specialist Pratik Desai tweeted in April claiming that 'there is a 100% chance [dead people] will live with you forever after leaving physical body.'
Because of the Corona Virus, 2020 saw a year plagued with death, rising by 14.5% from the previous year, according to the Office of National Statistics.
Whilst the number has decreased since, the number of deaths in 2022 was still 6.2% higher than the five years previously.
Data from Office of National Statistics
Data from Office of National Statistics
During what seemed like a lifetime of lockdowns in 2020 and 2021, people were surrounded by death.
Whether it was knowing a family member who had passed from Covid or seeing the live death count on BBC News every day, grief for life as we knew it, as well as lost loved ones, was universal.
It's unsurprising therefore that mechanisms to cope with grief have become more creative.
"The idea horrifies and compels me at the same time."
Patrick lost his god-mother, Margaret, earlier this year and told me that whilst the idea of digitally bringing her back to life horrified him, he felt equally intrigued.
He said: "Margaret was everything to me ever since I was a little kid and her death cut me up quite a lot.
"Grief came in waves for me. You don't get over it but the pain becomes bearable, it's like a physical injury you learn to live with."
Patrick comes from an Irish background and explained that in their culture two deaths occur. The first is the physical death, and the second happens when that person is forgotten.
"After she died, I used to speak about her a lot," he said, "tell other people about her, share her stories, in a way to keep the memory of her alive... to keep her alive.
"Part of me is saying let the dead be dead, but I'd be tempted to talk to her again... Then again I'm worried I wouldn't have the strength to use it sparingly.
"If it was freely available I would be scared it could become a really unhealthy obsession."
"I would definitely pay for AI to bring back my brother."
Arabella's brother died six years ago in a car accident.
She said: "It was tragic and premature so I never got to say goodbye. There's so much I have to tell him which I can't.
"Being able to see him again would give me closure which I never got at the time."
Arabella explained that struggling with grief as a teenager was unimaginable as there were so many new emotions she had to deal with.
"I was depressed after he died," she told me, "I would't see friends, I fell behind in school and I struggled with eating for a while.
"If I had been able to speak to him it could've been an outlet for all my anger and sadness from loosing him."
Six years later, Arabella said the intensity of her grief has settled and she's doing a lot better after therapy.
She said: "There's no equivalent to being able to talk to someone you've lost. Yes you can stare at pictures but actually seeing them, even if it is a hologram, would be amazing."
I asked a group of 100 18-25 year olds whether, if given the option, they would bring back someone they had lost through AI.
Despite Gen Z tending to be far more comfortable with technology than any other generation, 83% said 'no'.
One respondent said "It would be creepy and too traumatic seeing them again and then realising they're not actually there all over again."
Half of the respondents said the process would be creepy or unnatural, closely followed by disrespectful and intriguing.
Only 5.6% said it would be comforting.
Sarah Mathews is a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, and a bereavement counsellor.
She explained that whilst there may be short term benefits to being able to 'see' loved ones again, ultimately the concept of digital necromancy is very dangerous.
Sarah said: "People's reaction to death is a world of contradictions.
"Grief affects people in different ways, so of course people will come up with different mechanisms to cope with that pain.
"The idea of wanting to communicate with the dead is not new, it's manifested itself in many ways, in paintings, pictures, listening to voicemails...
"The new thing here is the technology, and I do understand the intrigue people grieving would have in wanting to be able to speak with lost loved ones."
Sarah explained that getting through grief is all about finding mechanisms that help people adapt to living with feelings for the dead in a positive, productive way.
The danger with digital necromancy, Sarah explained, is the potential for somebody to become stuck in grief. It means people could become reliant on a mechanism that prevents acceptance of death and therefore denies them to learn to live in a world without the dead.
She said: "There's also room here for people to be exploiting those in grief. There will always be mediums who will prey on the vulnerability and desperation of the bereaved.
"Where there is need there is money."
One of the most famous examples of digital necromancy was when rapper Kanye West gifted his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, an AI generated hologram of her dead dad.
The gift attracted lots of attention on social media with many praising Mr West for his thoughtfulness while others judged the present twisted and disrespectful of the dead.
The 2010s sparked debates around digital necromancy as development in video projection lead to the reanimation of Michael Jackson, Tupac Shakur (see right) and Bruce Lee, years after their death.
More recently, acclaimed actor James Dean, who died in 1955, is reportedly making an appearance in the upcoming film 'Back To Eden'.
This isn't the fist time Hollywood has made use of posthumous film appearances. Carrie Fisher and Peter Crushing are among the actors who have 'come back to life' on screen.
This comes at a time when Hollywood actors have gone on strike for the first time in 43 years in protest to the increasing threat of AI, which they argue will sacrifice creativity for the sake of profit.
The UK currently has no explicit laws regulating the use of AI.
However, the 1st of November marks day one of the world's first AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, once top-secret home to the WW2 Codebreakers.
Leaders from around the world will be coming to the conference to discuss the development of AI and its role going into the future.
The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “The UK has long been home to the transformative technologies of the future, so there is no better place to host the first ever global AI safety summit than at Bletchley Park this November.
“To fully embrace the extraordinary opportunities of artificial intelligence, we must grip and tackle the risks to ensure it develops safely in the years ahead."
Foreign Secretary James Cleverley has also expressed his enthusiasm for the summit.
He said: “The origins of modern AI can be traced back to Bletchley Park. Now, it will also be home to the global effort to shape the responsible use of AI.
“No country will be untouched by AI, and no country alone will solve the challenges posed by this technology. In our interconnected world, we must have an international approach."
The summit next week is likely only the start of more talk about AI regulations.
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