Ghost Robots
In China, AI cloning of dead family members has become a thriving cottage industry, driving down prices and spurring technological advances in the years since these types of services were offered.
On a interview with NPR, MIT Technical Review Reporter Zeyi Yang discussed the fascinating, if not macabre, industry he covered during a chunk at your employer. According to their report, mourners can now purchase AI replicas of their deceased loved ones from a variety of companies for just $140 or $150, when just a few years ago it would have cost more than $1,000.
One of the pioneers of this technology is Nanjing-based company Silicon Intelligence, whose co-founder Sun Kai had his engineers create an avatar of his mother after she passed away unexpectedly in 2019. At first, his mother’s clone was clumsy and repetitive – but the comfort it brought was nevertheless real.
“My mother didn’t seem very natural, but I still heard the words she always said: ‘Have you eaten yet?’” Sun told the newspaper. Technical review. “She always repeated these questions over and over and I was very moved when I heard that.”
Honor the dead
Trusting the dead is, as Yang notes, an integral part of Ancestor Worship Traditions of China. Doing this with a beloved family member’s face on a screen isn’t quite the same as writing letters to them or burning incense for them during the holidays, but adoption has apparently accelerated as AI technology has improved.
“So I would say it is catching on, but only a small number for now,” said Yang NPR. “I spoke to two companies that provide this service to more than 2,000 customers combined. Obviously, compared to just 1.4 billion people who are in China, this is still a small number. But they describe that it has grown a lot over the past year. “
Ethical concerns, of course, remain paramount, but Chinese companies created these avatars with “explicit consent from immediate family members,” Yang said.
“Some of them are saying it shouldn’t just be one family member, but all the surviving members of your family should agree to replicate you,” he explained. “And then they’ll get on with it.”
Despite China’s unique culture of ancestor worship, Yang said he could see this kind of “deadly robot” or “ghost bot”, as some media call them, gaining popularity in other countries that have different but compatible relationships with the afterlife.
“I definitely think this could catch on in cultures where there is a tradition of revering the dead or talking to them,” he said, “or just trying to communicate them in any spiritual way.”
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