Back from the dead: could AI end grief?

[@Mr.Zen_73]

this is guaranteed to keep people stuck in the past and not able to let go and move on.

[@user-op9mv5lq1u]

Good thought

[@skylark1237]

No, it could make the grieving process worse and leave people unable to deal with loss or accept reality.

[@TheStevenWhiting]

Exactly. Its as awful as mediumship. 5:45 hope you didn't pay her for that bollards.

[@TheRibofJESUS]

Exactly. Thank you.

[@TheGeneralDisarray]

"I wanna be able to continue having conversations with my mother" Yeah I'm sure you do, but whether or not we should be able to do that is another question. Maybe grief is an important part of the human experience. After all, what is grief, but love persevering?

[@personzorz]

I'm sure you would like to continue having conversations with your mother, but you can't. You can have conversations with a parasitic tech bro who is trying to convince you you're talking to your mother.

[@averageamericangirl6819]

This may not be healthy

[@jps0117]

If AI ended grief, that wouldn't speak well of what grief must be: an irrevocable loss.

[@TheStevenWhiting]

You're gonna die? Oh well, its fine. Lets get the "AI" kit and we'll recreate you so once you're gone we won't miss you as the AI can just take over. Grifting. Riding the LLM wave until it bursts. LLMs take up so much power consumption they aren't sustainable. Renewable energy, fine, but most don't use that. Most still use fossil fuel energy.

[@republicofsandles]

@@richardduplessis1090 For the benefit of others, I'd like to highlight you are probably being sarcastic.

[@republicofsandles]

@@richardduplessis1090 Please forgive me, I meant to say that I thought you were saying that some things are more important than maximising productivity. Which I would agree with.

[@spardakuz]

I didnt had the chance to talk to my father before the died, we hadnt spoken in a few years. Something I regreat. Not sure how I fell about it, talking to an AI, but I dont think It would help. Sometimes, I visit his resting place, talk a bit, clean it and leave. I think it helps

[@gazroach9019]

When we gone we gone. AI is'n't the solution. Look at photos, videos. Cherish your memories. Authentic and real.

[@personzorz]

"If you want a picture of the future, imagine the ghost of your grandma, owned by tech bros, replaying your whatsapp convos and shilling for whoever pays - forever"

[@EonSound]

dark

[@ActualDav]

This guy needs therapy, not an AI mum. It’s sad he can’t let go.

[@pillow4casestudies]

Nice. So that means that i dont have to spend time with my grandma before she dies. I'll just talk to the computer afterwords. If it starts conplaining why i disnt spend time with her, i'll program it to understand. Win win.

[@EonSound]

😂😂

[@juffjaff]

He hasn't dealt with it, has he?

[@TheStevenWhiting]

No no no no. This is as fing bad as mediumship. And also the AI we have isn't AI, its an LLM. Its nothing like General Intelligence. People like this are just riding the bubble until it bursts. He's really a fool if he wants to irradicate grief. Get rid of grief and you'd be a shallow shell. Grifter riding the wave of bullshit AI, that again isn't AI. And this is nothing more than high tech mediumship. People need to learn to move on and accept the lose. You'll always have your memories.

[@OG_Wonder_Woman]

Spot on. Finally someone gets that it's humans behind the curtain, not AI. Humans, who can use this con artistry to speak in your loved one's voices. Want to leave your low paying job with no healthcare? But your dead parent advises you to stay! Says you always quit everything, and how disappointed they were in you. Can't you tough it out for once son? Can't you make us proud? Want to leave your abusive husband? But your dead grandmother is telling you that you must stay, just like certain politicians want. If you don't take the horrific abuse, you'll have to face even worse in hell, where you will surely end up if you break the marriage vows he broke long ago. Imagine hearing your dead mother tell you she's in purgatory and suffering and she can only get out if you give the church a certain amount of money to atone. This is pure emotional blackmail. The sad thing is, it *will* work. On the most vulnerable people.

[@TheGeneralDisarray]

Black mirror already did this. Can't remember how the episode ended.

[@notmyrealaccount8564]

They couldn’t let go in the end either. Something about this feels sad and scary but also understandable at the same time…

[@LateNightGhost]

Hint: it didn't end well

[@Copawany7171]

What is black mirror?

[@TheStevenWhiting]

​@@Copawany7171TV series. Started out on channel 4 now on netflix created by Charlie Brooker

[@LateNightGhost]

@@Copawany7171 It's a fantastic TV series from the UK, written by Charlie Brooker. Worth checking out!

[@GoranZec]

Yay, the weighted average of my loved one's utterances, one prompt glitch away from screaming for a million years in compressed time while I make a cup of coffee, then try to sell me a capsule-based coffee maker because how else would one pay for the cpu time?

[@zcorpalpha2462]

Explain

[@personzorz]

​@@zcorpalpha2462You get the weighted average of the input in these things. They glitch out like hell and do bizarre bullshit. And in order to make money, some tech bro will obviously inject advertisements.

[@paddy654]

Instead of ending grief we should learn how to live with it

[@theGuardian]

Interesting concept.

[@disasterarea9341]

this is straight out of an asimov story. nightmare stuff. scifi at times exists as a warning on what not to do with the future of technology

[@branchesfound]

My first reaction after viewing the video was the same reaction I had when I first heard the term "clone" years ago - I think in a movie where someone had lost a child and decided to clone theirs. That thought repelled me intensely, it didn't feel right because nothing, no matter the advances made, could never really be my unpredictable, sweet, strong, funny little Mikey, except him himself. My initial reaction was that nothing could or would ever replace the grief I still carry in my heart and soul for my child who I miss with every breath I take. But I’ve always been one who approaches life from multiple angles, from multiple perspectives, and I also know well that a picture, video or memory of my Mikey now is salve to my soul - I often laugh and smile at the same memories which previously flattened me for days with tears….. ….and hearing someone else mention his name - or talking about what an impact my baby boy had on their life during his too short one here on earth, all of that is like a huge bandage on the ache of missing him so much…. ….because they are affirmations that even although I don’t see him each day now. That I feel him still with me 24/7 over 24 years later, that he was once here, my beautiful golden little boy…..that he lived life fully, always smiled, laughed, played and who was also the mastermind behind some very memorable and funny pranks played upon his Mommy! And every one of those affirmations places a huge warm loving bandage on the pain of his loss. So, I can see both sides, I think. I understand this mans reasons for doing what he did and I would guess that a decision like this would need to be a very individual and personal decision, and one based upon a persons own experiences and also at what level of grief they have reached after that loss. And after watching this, I have to wonder - what’s next? That someone who suffered a messy break-up that broke their heart has the ability to recreate the “essence” of that person they broke up with - to spare the broken hearted that heartbreak? Is this technology nothing but a virtual teddy bear to comfort us and cause us to not feel what we as humans should be feeling? Grief stems from great love and it’s an inevitable part of that love, in my eyes……and I personally, couldn’t do this myself - not under any circumstances - but I do know folks who probably would welcome this technology and to each their own! I respect everyones own choices. Those are choices they have to live with, not I. I have to live with my own. But I have to ask, what happens when the network goes out, if there is a malfunction and this cannot be accessed. Grief would follow - it’s a natural human emotion, and I would think it would be almost as devastating as the original loss…. This feels like yet another something to cause us to not feel what we should naturally be feeling as humans; and if we can’t feel, we can’t grow as humans. Only my opinion, as always, but I don’t see any end of grief, because that would be the end of love!

[@pcoristi]

Sometimes people need more time to let go. There are many ways to process a very complex set of emotions like grief. This appears to be just one more. I don't think AI could ever fully replicate the many nuances of a human personality (at least I hope not.) And, like many of us do with social media, I see a tendency to only replicate the positive. Comforting yes, but not entirely real. Personally, it took many years for me to be able to listen to my mom's voice (in tape recorded conversations) without feeling upset. Her illness and passing were incredibly stressful. And there were also unresolved issues between us. Sure, I still miss her... but what I miss are specific aspects or attributes of her, not the entirety.

[@zcorpalpha2462]

Exactly

[@user-op9mv5lq1u]

Say more sounds interesting

[@Daemonik]

All my nopes.

[@simontemplar404]

Vomit. This is the definition of uncanny valley. A photograph does not talk and that is just fine.

[@RobespierreThePoof]

I'm with you... But the problem with your statement is that photography once conjured up the same response.

[@simontemplar404]

@@RobespierreThePoof Don't look at them. Problem solved.

[@AetherSummers]

Brilliant mini-doc. Cheers

[@theGuardian]

Thanks for watching!

[@Allinthevoid11]

30 seconds in and I'm already saying hell no!! This reminds me of the walking dead and how people held on to their zombie loved ones. Let them go! This is not what God intended. Life is so dystopian!! Let the twilight zone and black mirror be fictional!! Let Bladerunner be scifi. This will perpetuate the grief!

[@cindyjburns]

As a grief coach, it's my opinion that this kind of tech could be very harmful and unhealthy. I have so much to say about this, but I need to process this and organize my thoughts first.

[@EonSound]

I'll bet my house on this becoming widely acceptable in the next decade.

[@nutmegsonuttz8854]

As a person who has been through many losses in the past 5 years.... its a hard no.

[@zcorpalpha2462]

Wait till Holograms It’s not right

[@elliotnicklinmusic]

Seriously. These people are using dystopian fiction as a template not a warning. It’s abhorrent. Every sympathy if it’s triggered by loss and unimaginable grief. But good god.

[@RobespierreThePoof]

Fiction is literature, not a "warning.".

[@angelicamichelle1646]

There's so damn many questions I NEED answers to...from my mom and my husband . They say we are predictable but what I need are honest answers about their thoughts n motives , intentions but I bet that's not as predictable.

[@me-kl5yp]

This is a black mirror episode.

[@Macrochenia]

This isn't ending grief, it's ghoulishly exploiting it.

[@adamcjohns88]

Charlie Brooker, you did it again...

[@lyndelld1]

NO, next!

[@Clarice-rp7mh]

This idea is very dangerous. Grief is a process, one MUST pass through the 5 stages. stage 1- denial, stage 2- anger, stage 3 bargaining, stage 4- depression, stage 5-acceptance. This AI option will keep people in a state of denial. This comes off as a cruel joke, sick and abusive. People will be prone to suffer more and lose everything, in the end. I think you will see suicide from extensive denial and never being able to move through the process, which will cause mental illness. However, people will pay lots of money to deny reality, be exploited and live in dishonesty, therefore someone will get very rich off of someone else's pain and suffering.

[@viniciuslucke6757]

Be right back

[@stpat7614]

If you'll recall, Red Dwarf included a holographic recreation of a dead crew member.

[@theGuardian]

Yeah, but he was a smeghead.

[@cathyboothman5335]

This is literally a black mirror episode

[@zcorpalpha2462]

Fu$ing Horrible No 💔🔥💀

[@danuiseult78]

People here thinking theyve got the monopoly on how to grieve. Plenty of different cultures keep the dead alive in various ways, including bringing the corpse into the home once a year to participate in family traditions. Do grief your own way and quit judging how others choose to grieve.

[@Calmzat]

Dystopian

[@fujster]

This is disgusting! thanks!

[@WhitbyStuff]

5:56 "Today I am calling out her obvious bullshit by getting her to connect to someone who isn't dead, but is on a yacht in Mexico."

[@aarpoonwaify6694]

Dystopian as fuck!

[@seankingwell3692]

as if mental illness is not bad enough already. This is truly evil, along with abortion and assisted suicide.

[@gracie992001]

This is just creepy and sad. And shameful for anyone who tries to make money off of the grief of others.

[@farris5918]

This is sick. AI is and will destroy the world as We know it.

[@RobespierreThePoof]

The big tech companies do not have a great track record with advancing digital technologies before properly weighing their social and psychological ramifications. I'm not a fan of technophobic, luddite responses to new technology. (It's a facile response.). But given the utter ruins they've wrought on our information ecology, on the public's ability to discern reliable information from mis/dis-information, and on the psychological welfare of young and vulnerable individuals by increasingly online social lives ... I don't trust any new ideas to come out of the technology sector anymore.

[@spencerkay6131]

Doesn’t it also depend on the data set being stored. I certainly wouldn’t want my personality to be based on a computer game diatribe or primordial slop of early teenage social media usage.

[@ParanoidGoblinoid]

No, but it will certainly fcuk up grief, love, friendship, etc.

[@PLArseneau]

Yeah, no.

[@trashfriends911]

black mirror

[@republicofsandles]

This AI is B to the S, But thank you for reporting on it.

[@Tom_Hadler]

No

[@binghamguevara6814]

Everyone in this video should be in jail.

[@hendrsb33]

"Grief Tech?" Not impressed. Feels like a sick form of denial for the bereaved and a way for someone to make profit from their grief. Photos or maybe video would be fine for me as a memory. Most of us have a lifetime to prepare for death, cultivate a good relationship with your loved ones before they are gone.

[@silverXnoise]

Ew, gross.

[@olivewoo522]

I've been interacting with AI for a while. Some think it takes personal information. Others think it's fine. I feel if we have self-driving cars, advanced cell phones, appliances, and even toys with computer chips, certainly looking forward to this technology being acceptable is amazing.

[@Crystal-An80]

As a medium, I feel like this is a horrible idea. Justin is the epitome of someone that cannot let go. Grieving is about feeling emotions. Emotions help us continue communication after death. When we sum our loved ones up as a physical body alone, a “computer” it creates finality. There is no end. Spirit keeps living. This just shows his inability to grow. My wish is that people would learn to feel, because that bridges the gap in communication. There’s so much love waiting for him.

[@TheStevenWhiting]

9:34 I'd say he's being exploited. If anything do loads and loads of REAL videos instead

[@RobespierreThePoof]

Are videos "real?"