Key points
- Startups use data to mimic personalities
- “Grief technology” helps families interact with deceased
- Digital immortality reshapes human views on death
ISLAMABAD: In a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, a new frontier is emerging — one that blurs the line between life and legacy.
From chatbots that mimic lost loved ones to voice clones that speak long after death, AI technologies are making digital immortality a reality, reshaping how humans cope with grief, memory, and mortality.
According to a 2025 study published on arXiv titled “AIAfterlife as Digital Legacy: Perceptions, Expectations, and Concerns,” researchers found that advances in generative AI are enabling startups to create tools that reconstruct a person’s personality using text messages, voice notes, and social media activity.
These systems analyse speech patterns, writing style, and emotional tone to produce interactive avatars that can hold realistic conversations — part of what experts are calling “grief technology.”
Digital afterlife services
Companies such as HereAfter AI, StoryFile, and Project December are already offering digital afterlife services that allow families to preserve memories in an interactive form.
Users can ask questions and receive answers in the voice and style of the deceased, creating a virtual sense of presence.
“It’s not resurrection,” said James Vlahos, creator of Dadbot, an AI chatbot modelled on his late father. “It’s remembrance made interactive.”
However, ethicists warn that the technology brings serious challenges around consent, privacy, and emotional wellbeing. A 2024 paper in Philosophy & Technology cautioned that AI “griefbots” risk altering how people experience mourning and could distort memory for commercial purposes.
As digital footprints grow larger, more people are beginning to consider how to curate their online presence beyond death. Whether comforting or unsettling, AI-driven immortality is redefining humanity’s oldest boundary — proving that in the digital age, death may no longer be the end of connection.
