Touching – or grotesque? The AI gadget that lets you ‘talk’ to loved ones beyond the grave to help friends and family cope with grief

This reminds me of Steve and Sarah Berger’s book, “Have Heart: Bridging the Gap between Heaven and Earth” They wrote the book after loosing their son in a car crash. The difference being that the Bergers are Christians and should know that our Lord does not allow communication between the living and the dead (necromancy).

From dailymail.co.uk

  • A Korean artificial intelligence firm has made the ‘ghoulish’ vision a reality 
  • They insist the controversial service will help friends and family cope with grief
  • Expected to cost between £10,000 and £20,000 to create a virtual person
  • Software can even answer questions from the grieving and share past memories

But now a Korean artificial intelligence firm has made that ‘ghoulish’ vision a reality, insisting the controversial service will help friends and family cope with grief.

The technology uses machine learning to process images, audio recordings and video footage of recently deceased people to create a virtual version that can interact with the living, as if on a video call.

Called re;memory, the software can even answer questions from the grieving, and share memories from the past.

Seoul-based DeepBrain AI showcased the service at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It is expected to cost between £10,000 and £20,000 to create a virtual person, then £1,000 each time a loved one wants a conversation with it.

Business development manager Joseph Murphy acknowledged that the service was controversial. ‘We’ve already found it to be really polarising,’ he told The Mail on Sunday. ‘Some people love the opportunity to live on forever in this way, but many people view it as inauthentic.’

But he added: ‘People like that they can share their memories after they’re gone and they want their family to remember them in a healthy state.’

He suggested re;memory was best suited for people with terminal illnesses such as cancer who could spend several hours in front of a camera to allow the software to learn their mannerisms and collect voice data. Subjects are also encouraged to write journals about their lives, including childhood memories, to be saved into the system.

Family members can then visit the company’s studio to speak to the replica loved one after their death. When prompted, the avatar can recite extracts from their journal or interviews. Murphy says the results are realistic. He said: ‘You might ask it “Tell me about the time you met Dad”, and the virtual person will be able to tell the story in full. The more they journal, the more realistic the experience will be.’

But Sue Gill, a volunteer with Cruse Bereavement Support, said: ‘This sounds bizarre and ghoulish.

‘Lots of people, when they know they are dying, write letters or journals or make recordings. That’s using modern technology at its best. This feels slightly like they are preying on the bereaved.’

The service has been launched in Asia and the US, with plans to open in the UK soon. Last year, another firm, LA-based StoryFile, created a digital version of Marina Smith, 87, which talked to mourners at her own funeral in Nottinghamshire. Source

As a follower of Christ and His Word, I believe that this AI software is very creepy and very wrong. We have the blessing of knowing that we will see those who were born again in this life, in heaven one day. We know that our God forbids necromancy. Don’t let the world and the devil tempt you to disobey God.

And please understand that the ones who do communicate with the living are not loved one who have passed away. These are Satan’s demons pretending to be loved ones. This is the devil’s specialty – Deception!

God’s way is always BEST.

MARANATHA!

4 thoughts on “Touching – or grotesque? The AI gadget that lets you ‘talk’ to loved ones beyond the grave to help friends and family cope with grief

  1. robinlinaz

    You are right Geri!

    “This feels slightly like they are preying on the bereaved.” That’s an understatement! This is wrong on so many levels, I don’t know where to start. And Steve and Sarah Berger can claim to be Christians but there is nothing Christian about this.

    You can be sure that profiteers will pay to have Mary, Peter, dead popes, Billy Graham and likely Jesus Himself, made into virtual entities that will communicate with anyone willing to pay for the experience. And that is all it is, a false experience, designed to deceive the desperately grieving.

    The Lord wants us to turn to Him in Spirit and in Truth (not demonic virtual communication) for guidance and comfort in our distress!

    We continue hearing of so many people who are renewing their faith in the Lord since COVID hit, out of grief over someone they lost. The last thing they need is to interrupt that process by continuing on in a relationship with a phony likeness of their loved one!

    Sickening, not surprising, but sickening. This is an abomination before the Lord, another in an endless list of them these days.

  2. Janine

    That is horrible! Robin made a great point, too…how soon will they be channeling the “jesus” of jesus Calling…with the publisher’s “blessing!” Anything for another dollar. So sad.

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