- Family in China used AI to create a digital avatar of their deceased son for his mother
- The AI avatar mimics the son's appearance, voice, and mannerisms using photos and recordings
- The elderly mother talks daily to the AI son via video calls, unaware he is not real
The rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has made it remarkably easy to create accurate digital avatars of anyone, ranging from celebrities to loved ones, that too using minimal data. Now, a family in China has made headlines for hiring an AI company to create a digital version of their dead son to comfort his elderly mother.
The family, which lives in Shandong province in the eastern part of the country, initially attempted to conceal the news of the death from the mother, who is in her 80s and has heart disease, according to a report in the South China Morning Post. After some deliberation, the man's son approached Zhang Zewei, the team leader of the AI company, and asked him to create a digital avatar of his father.
The son offered numerous pictures, videos and audio recordings of his father speaking in his dialect, which allowed AI to create an entity that looked exactly like the dead man. The AI avatar even mimicked the man's habit of leaning forward while speaking.
Unaware of the reality, the unsuspecting mother talks to the virtual son every day via a video call in a chat app. The mother often reminds him to eat properly, stay warm and be careful while travelling. The AI responds in a similar tone.
In one of the conversations, the mother told her virtual son: "You should call me more often so that I know whether you live well or not in another city. I am missing you so much. I feel so sorry that I cannot see you in person."
The "son" replied that he is working in another city and will return once he earns enough money.
The news has divided social media users, with a section lauding the family for not hurting the woman, while others highlighted that it may cause her more harm in the long run.
"Wasn't this literally the premise of a Black Mirror episode?" said one user, while another added: "It is very touching. The AI son is a gentle lie."
A third commented: "My father-in-law has Alzheimer's and when we told him his wife died, it crushed him. Then he'd forget and ask where she was, it crushed him each time, so we started lying about her whereabouts. She's in rehab, at the doctor's office, etc. This, this isn't that. No good will come of this."
