Imagine a future where your phone pings with a message that your deceased father’s “digitally immortal” bot is ready. That promise of talking to a virtual version of your loved one—perhaps via a virtual reality (VR) headset—is like stepping into a sci-fi movie, both exciting and a little creepy.
As you interact with this digital father, you find yourself on an emotional roller coaster. You uncover secrets and stories you never knew, changing the way you remember the real person.
This is not a far-fetched, hypothetical scenario. The digital afterlife industry is evolving rapidly. Several companies promise to create virtual reconstructions of deceased people based on their digital fingerprints.
From artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots and virtual avatars to holograms, this technology offers a strange combination of comfort and disruption. It can draw us into deeply personal experiences that blur the lines between past and present, memory and reality.
As the digital afterlife industry grows, it raises significant ethical and emotional challenges. These include concerns about consent, privacy and the psychological impact on the living.
What is the Digital Afterlife Industry?
VR and AI technologies make virtual reconstructions of our loved ones possible. Companies in this niche industry use data from social media posts, emails, text messages and voice recordings to create digital personas that can interact with the living.
While still niche, the number of players in the digital afterlife industry is growing.
HereAfter allows users to record stories and messages during their lifetime, which can then be accessed by loved ones posthumously. MyWishes offers the ability to send pre-planned messages after death, maintaining a presence in the lives of the living.
Hanson Robotics has created robotic busts that interact with people using the memories and personality traits of the deceased. Project December gives users access to so-called “deep AI” to engage in text conversations with those who have passed away.
Generative AI also plays a crucial role in the digital afterlife industry. These technologies enable the creation of highly realistic and interactive digital personalities. But a high level of realism can blur the line between reality and simulation. This can improve the user experience, but it can also cause emotional and psychological stress.
HereAfter
A technology ripe for abuse
Digital afterlife technologies can aid the grieving process by offering continuity and connection with the deceased. Hearing a loved one’s voice or seeing a likeness of them can provide comfort and help cope with the loss.
For some of us, these digital immortals can be therapeutic tools. They can help us keep positive memories and feel close to our loved ones even after their death.
But for others, the emotional impact can be profoundly negative, exacerbating grief rather than alleviating it. Reproducing loved ones with artificial intelligence has the potential to cause psychological harm if the bereaved ends up having an unwanted interaction with them. It is essentially being “digitally stalked”.
Other major issues and ethical concerns related to this technology include consent, autonomy, and privacy.
For example, the deceased may not have consented to their data being used for “digital life after death”.
There is also a risk of data misuse and manipulation. Companies could exploit digital immortals for commercial gain by using them to advertise products or services. Digital personalities can be altered to convey messages or behavior that the deceased would never approve of.
We need regulation
To address the concerns surrounding this fast-growing industry, we need to update our legal frameworks. We need to address issues such as digital estate planning, who inherits the deceased’s digital personalities, and ownership of digital memory.
The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) recognizes privacy rights after death, but faces enforcement challenges.
Social media platforms control access to the data of deceased users, often against the will of heirs, with clauses such as “no inheritance rights” complicating matters. Limited platform practices hinder the effectiveness of GDPR. Comprehensive protection requires a reassessment of treaty rules, aligning them with human rights.
The digital afterlife industry offers comfort and memory preservation, but raises ethical and emotional concerns. Applying careful regulations and ethical guidelines can honor both the living and the dead to ensure that digital immortality enhances our humanity.
What can we do?
Researchers have recommended several ethical guidelines and regulations. Some recommendations include:
- obtaining informed and documented consent before creating digital personas from people before they die
- age limits to protect vulnerable groups
- clear disclaimers to ensure transparency
- and strict data privacy and security measures.
Drawing on ethical frameworks in archaeology, a 2018 study suggests treating digital remains as an integral part of the person, proposing provisions to ensure dignity, especially in recovery services.
Dialogue between policymakers, industry and academia is critical to developing ethical and regulatory solutions. Providers must also offer ways for users to respectfully end their interactions with digital personas.
Through thoughtful, responsible development, we can create a future where digital afterlife technologies meaningfully and respectfully honor our loved ones.
As we navigate this brave new world, it is critical to balance the benefits of staying connected to our loved ones against the potential risks and ethical dilemmas.
By doing this, we can ensure that the digital afterlife industry develops in a way that honors the memory of the deceased and supports the emotional well-being of the living.
