As painful as it is to lose a loved one, it is still one of the inevitable constants of life.
After we do, we find ways to remember and honour them, like during the annual Qing Ming festival.
In China, funeral companies have created a way for families to connect with deceased members through artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
Source: Bilibili
These companies generate AI avatars that can mimic a person’s appearance and voice. As such, people can ‘communicate’ with a departed loved one via these avatars.
In China, funeral companies are now offering digital services for people to relive moments with deceased loved ones, Guangzhou Daily reported.
One of them is Shanghai Fushouyun Life Information Technology Co., Ltd., which held its first AI funeral in January 2022.
The funeral was held for celebrated surgeon Wu Mengchao (transliterated from Mandarin), and featured a conversation with his students and colleagues.
Source: Guangzhou Daily
With help from AI, a hologram of Wu ‘asked’ three questions in his voice, which moved those present to tears.
He reportedly appeared as healthy and strong as he had been in life, with his voice clear and bright.
As the conversation ended, ‘Wu’ said goodbye in candlelight held by the 20-plus students in attendance.
Afterwards, Wu’s family and colleagues thanked Yu Hao (transliterated from Mandarin), Shanghai Fushouyun’s CEO, for giving other coworkers and his students one last chance to say goodbye.
Funeral companies aside, individuals have also found ways to communicate with loved ones who have passed on.
One of them is content creator Wu Wuliu (transliterated from Mandarin), who posted a ‘conversation’ with his late grandma to Chinese video sharing website Bilibili.
The man showed an AI-generated avatar of his grandmother speaking alongside a transcript of their conversation.
In the video, he also demonstrated how he used a combination of ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Baidu’s AI studio to bring the avatar to life.
Source: Bilibili
Explaining what inspired him, he said he was not able to see his grandma one last time before she passed.
As such, he decided to use AI to seek closure and make up for the regret he felt.
His story mirrors that of another content creator, who helped a friend ‘recreate’ his beloved late grandpa with merely Midjourney, photos, and WeChat voice clips.
Although the avatar’s voice turned out distorted and lacked real-time conversing capabilities, the story behind the avatar still touched netizens.
At the same time, there aren’t many funeral companies in China offering such services just yet.
While the technological aspect is not too challenging, there are others to consider such as digital human portrait copyright issues, research & development costs, and ethical concerns.
Mr Yu Hao also cautioned that there must be boundaries in the metaverse.
Source: Fushouyun
As much as AI allows people to ‘communicate’ with deceased loved ones and give them a ‘reunion’, there ultimately has to be a farewell ceremony, he said.
He also stressed that the ‘revival’ of people via AI should be a way to grieve and heal from loss, instead of keeping one from moving on.
This new chapter in AI certainly holds great potential, and we can see it being beneficial for grieving souls.
However, like any other form of technology, it could also be used to do more harm than good.
Should funeral companies in Singapore decide to offer such services in the future, we hope AI will be utilised ethically and responsibly.
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Featured image adapted from Bilibili and Guangzhou Daily.
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