Dead chat: Shanghai man uses AI technology to ‘resurrect’ late grandmother by creating virtual version to talk to, triggering controversy in China
- A 24-year-old man in Shanghai uses AI to ‘raise’ his grandmother from the dead and releases controversial recording of a conversation with ‘her’
- The creator says he shared a deep bond with his grandmother who raised him after his parents divorced when he was a small child
A Chinese man who used AI to “resurrect” his late grandmother has started a heated discussion about the application of new technology in the field.
A video with the audio of a conversation between the 24-year-old man, surnamed Wu, and the AI version of his dead grandmother went viral in recent weeks after Wu posted it online, news site cqcb.com reported.
“Grandma, my dad and I will go back to our hometown to celebrate the Lunar New Year with you this year,” Wu says in the recording. “My dad called you last time. What did you say to him?”
“I told him not to drink wine. Be thrifty and not play cards,” the AI grandmother replied.
“Yes, grandma, you should tell him to behave. My father, almost 50 years old, still drinks wine every day. He doesn’t even have any savings … grandma, what did you buy to celebrate the coming Lunar New Year?” Wu asked.
“I bought two bottles of edible oils. The farmers themselves pressed the oils. It smells fragrant, haha, 75 yuan (US$11) a bottle.”