Can Deadbots Make Grief Obsolete?

"When Justin Harrison got the call in 2022 telling him that his mother would likely die within the day, he didn't panic. He got on a plane to Singapore, where he was scheduled to present at a conference about his start-up, You, Only Virtual, a platform on which users can chat with AI versions of their dead loved ones, and which Justin believes can ultimately eliminate grief as a human experience. He learned about his mother's death while flying over the Pacific."

"I should stipulate that Justin loved his mother, Melodi Gae Harrison-Whitaker. Loving your mother isn't unusual, but Justin's relationship with Melodi is, and always was-even before he replaced her with an artificially intelligent voicebot three years ago. Melodi was 20 and single when Justin was born. In many ways, they grew up together. He trusted her to advise him on his boyhood insecurities; she trusted him to determine his own bedtime and media diet."

Justin Harrison received a call in 2022 that his mother would likely die within a day and flew to Singapore to present his start-up, You, Only Virtual. The platform lets users chat with AI versions of dead loved ones, and Justin believes such technology can ultimately eliminate human grief. He learned of his mother's death while flying over the Pacific and did not plan a funeral or experience overwhelming sorrow. Justin shared a close, co‑dependent childhood with his mother; her earlier prolonged grief after her own mother's death shaped his determination to avoid becoming incapacitated by grief.

Read at The Atlantic