This is fascinating!
I followed an NFT Project that promised something similar. Basically you could create a "pod" of yourself that could live on. The more you communicate, the better it learns you, and essentially you built an avatar that lives on long past your death.
In reality, with enough content, people will be able to recreate "avatars" of people whether they like it or not. Just dump a ton of data (the more the better) into the AI model and BOOM- you've got a virtual character.
At the most basic level, I liken it to the "
Turning Hearts Gravestone" commercial I've seen all over the place lately; essentially a QR code you attach to a loved one's gravestone that open video memories on your browser.
The "character" recreation will be a big business, not just for real people, but for fictional characters at AI swarms the entertainment industry. Consider Character.AI for example:
Meet AIs that feel alive. Chat with anyone, anywhere, anytime. Experience the power of super-intelligent chat bots that hear you, understand you, and remember you.
beta.character.ai
And then there's the extreme futuristic case, like
the Amazon series "Upload", where after you're dead they can upload your soul into the virtual world to continue living a hellish version of heaven. Love the show and worth a watch (especially Season 1).
I hadn't considered the potential drawback of a grieving person becoming addicted to communicating with a relative that's passed... that's such an interesting perspective. We're so early into the AI revolution that the upsides and downsides will be hard to predict. The impact from a lifestyle and culture perspective will be 100X what mobile tech has brought in the last 15 years.
When thinking about a person grieving the loss of a loved one, I can't help but think about the movie "Inception". In that movie, the main character uses induced dreams to revisit loved ones lost... replace the dreams with VR and it's not much different. Incredibly powerful opportunity with potentially devastating effects.