It is no longer about drawing with different styles or finding new drugs. AI has the potential to change our lives. And until our death resurrecting family members. And there are many companies that are already beginning to take advantage of this.selling their services to thousands of people who are grieving.
In a recent interview, Zeyi Yang, an expert at MIT Tech Review, pointed out that those who have lost a family member can purchase artificial intelligence replicas of their loved ones from a variety of companies. for only 140 or 150 euros, 10 times less than what it would have cost a few years ago.
One of the companies pioneers of this technology is Silicon Intelligencebased in Nanjing, whose co-founder Sun Kai had his engineers create an avatar of his mother after she died unexpectedly in 2019. At first, his mother's clone was clunky and repetitive, but it brought a comfort that the manager described as real.
“My mother didn't seem very natural, but I still heard the words she used to say: Have you eaten yet? – Sun explained in an interview. She always repeated those questions over and over again, and I was very excited when I heard it“.
While bonding with the dead is an integral part of China's traditions of respecting ancestors, doing so with a loved one's face on a screen is not the same as writing letters or burning incense. But Technological advances have accelerated the adoption of these types of practices.
“I would say it is becoming fashionable – adds Yang in the interview – but only a small number for now. Talk to two companies that have provided this service to more than 2,000 clients combined. Obviously, compared to only 1.4 billion people in China, that is still a small number. But it is an indicator that it is a market that is growing.”
Ethical concerns, however, are not always answered and a very clear legislative framework is needed so that this power is not abused.