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Artificial intelligence
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Back from the dead online: how AI chatbots that simulate lost loved ones might cause ‘unwanted digital hauntings’

  • If you could speak to a dead loved one again, would you? AI chatbots offer people that opportunity – but new research shows this can have devastating effects
  • The chatbots – known as deadbots – risk causing psychological harm to the bereaved, a researcher warns

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A South Korean mother got to see her dead daughter again thanks to virtual reality. A chatbot designed to simulate a recently deceased person may seem like a helpful way to mourn, but new research shows that so-called deadbots can have devastating effects. Photo: MBC
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Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots that simulate the language and personalities of dead people risk distressing loved ones left behind through “unwanted digital hauntings”, a researcher has warned.

A study from Cambridge University in the UK suggested that the AI chatbots – known as “deadbots” – need design safety protocols to prevent them from causing psychological harm.

Some companies are already offering services that allow a chatbot to simulate the language patterns and personality traits of a dead person using the digital footprint that they have left behind, according to the research.

AI ethicists from Cambridge’s Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence describe the area as “high risk”.

A man uses AI technology to “resurrect” his late grandmother, triggering controversy online. Photo: Baidu
A man uses AI technology to “resurrect” his late grandmother, triggering controversy online. Photo: Baidu

Co-author Dr Tomasz Hollanek, from the Leverhulme Centre, said: “It is vital that digital afterlife services consider the rights and consent not just of those they recreate, but those who will have to interact with the simulations.

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