Diego Felix dos Santos never expected to hear his late father's voice again, until artificial intelligence made it possible for him in such an amazing way that he described it as: "The tone of voice is so perfect, it's almost as if he's here."
After his father died suddenly last year, Dos Santos , 39, traveled to his native Brazil to be with his family. After returning home to Edinburgh, Scotland, he said he realized he didn't have anything that "really reminded me of my father." But he did have a voice message his father sent him from his hospital bed.
In July, Dos Santos turned to that voice message. With help from Eleven Labs , an AI voice-generating platform founded in 2022, he uploaded the audio and created new messages in his father's voice, simulating conversations they never had, for a monthly fee of $22.
His father's voice comes through the app, just as it did during their regular weekly calls, saying, "Hi, son, how are you?" He adds, "Kissing you. I love you, Bossy," using the nickname his father gave him when he was little.
Dos Santos's religious family initially had reservations about his use of AI to communicate with his late father, but he says they later accepted his decision.
Dos Santos' experience reflects a growing trend of using artificial intelligence not only to create digital characters that resemble real people, but also to simulate those who have died.
As the personal needs associated with this technology increase and become more widespread, experts warn of the ethical and emotional risks it poses, highlighting the need to obtain consent from those being embodied, protect data, and consider the commercial motives behind its development.
The market for AI technologies designed to help people cope with the pain of losing a loved one, known as “grief tech,” has grown significantly in the past few years.
Thanks to American startups like Storyfile, an AI-powered video creation tool that allows people to record clips of themselves to be viewed after death, and Her After AI, a voice-based app that creates interactive avatars of the deceased, the technology is being marketed as a way to cope with grief and perhaps even prevent it.
Robert Locascio founded Eternus in 2024 after losing his father. The Palo Alto-based startup helps people develop digital twins using artificial intelligence.
Locascio says more than 400 people have since used the platform to create interactive AI avatars of themselves, with subscriptions starting at $25, creating an account that allows a person's life story to remain accessible to their loved ones after their death.
Michael Bommer, an engineer and former colleague of Lucaccio's, was one of the first to use Eternus to create a digital replica of himself after learning he had terminal cancer.
"It captures the essence of his personality so well," Ant, the wife of Boehmer, who died last year, said in an email to Reuters about the digital version of her husband.
"I feel like he's close to me in my life through AI, because it was his last project that came from his heart, and now he's part of my life," added Ant, who lives in Berlin.
One of the biggest concerns surrounding the use of grief technology is the issue of consent, which raises questions about what it means to be a digital embodiment of a person who cannot control how their image is used after their death.
While some companies, such as Eleven Labs, allow customers to create digital images of their loved ones after their death, others impose restrictions. Eternus's Locascio says the company's policy prohibits them from creating interactive images of people unable to give consent.
Some also worry about the emotional effects of this technology.
Andy Langford, director of Cruse, a UK-based bereavement charity, says it's too early to draw concrete conclusions about the effects of AI on grief, but it's important that users of the technology don't get "stuck" in their grief. "We need both—grief and life," he adds.
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