Benefits and Hindrances of AI When Grieving
In the past, when people wanted to reconnect with lost loved ones, they may have contacted psychics or held seances. Today, people are turning to technology - specifically AI apps - to remember their loved ones and even maintain a certain connection with their memory. For example, the popular AI chatbot tool ChatGPT now has a Snapchat My AI feature — which will answer questions or “talk” with users. There is also HereAfter AI, which uses interviews from when someone was alive to generate AI responses paired to an avatar users create when that loved one becomes deceased.
While this ability to "stay in touch" with those we care about after they're gone may sound endearing, there are also downsides to consider. AI can now generate responses that individuals would never actually say or do when alive, leading us to ponder what's right or wrong, or helping or hindering the grieving process.
Mary-Frances O’Connor, a professor at the University of Arizona who studies grief, said there are both advantages and downsides to using technology in this way. “When we bond with a loved one, when we fall in love with someone, the brain encodes that person as, ‘I will always be there for you and you will always be there for me,’” she said. “When they die, our brain has to understand that this person isn’t coming back.” Because it’s so hard for the brain to wrap around that and takes time to relearn what it is to be without this person, “This is where technology could interfere.” Despite this, O'Connor acknowledges: “Remembering is very important..." She also recognizes that, “Creating an avatar to remind them of a loved one, while maintaining the awareness that it is someone important in the past, could be healing."
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Updated: 05/09/24