Advances in artificial intelligence allow people to speak with dead loved ones via phone, video chat or voice assistant.
It may sound like something out of a “Black Mirror” episode. Still, advances in artificial intelligence (AI) now allow people to interact and hold conversations with loved ones from beyond the grave.
Several companies, including California-based HereAfterAI, are using technology similar to that which powers AI chatbots and voice assistants to create virtual versions of actual humans. Available as a mobile app, HereAfterAi uses photographs, video interviews, and voice recordings to create interactive avatars capable of conversation.
You, Only Virtual, also based in Los Angeles, strives to “recreate the relationship dynamics between you and your loved one through conversation– enabling authentic communication upon one’s passing.
Tel Aviv, Israel-based Hour One allows anyone to create a fully digital clone of themselves that can speak “on camera” without any input from live humans.
AI Overcoming Creativity Hurdles
Cloning human digital thought patterns has been considered the Holy Grail of artificial intelligence since Alan Turing introduced his eponymously named test in the 1950 paper “Computing Machinery and Intelligence.”
One of the most critical stumbling blocks data scientists have encountered in developing artificial intelligence is separating creative thought into convergent and divergent thinking.