1 week Ago By Jamie Harris
CREEPY AI chatbots of the dead could give bereaved family an "unwanted digital haunting" with serious psychological consequences, experts have warned. So-called AI " ghostbots " may even digitally stalk their loved ones beyond the grave. Online platforms allowing people to virtually reincarnate lost relatives have exploded in recent years.
The eerie tech is capable of simulating language patterns and personality traits of a dead person using the digital footprint they have left behind. A person may leave an AI simulation as a farewell gift for loved ones who are not prepared to process their grief in this manner But researchers at Cambridge University say AI chatbots need new safety measures to prevent causing psychological harm. They fear some users may also develop "strong emotional bonds" with the simulation making them particularly vulnerable to being manipulated.
"It is vital that digital afterlife services consider the rights and consent not just of those they recreate, but those who will have to interact with the simulations," said Dr Tomasz Hollanek, who co-authored the paper. “These services run the risk of causing huge distress to people if they are subjected to unwanted digital hauntings from alarmingly accurate AI recreations of those they have lost. “The potential psychological effect, particularly at an already difficult time, could be devastating.
” The study by Cambridge’s Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence goes on to say that the area is .
