|
They aren’t the only ones in the space: HereAfter AI, and SeanceAI and StoryFile all promise to “connect” with the dead.
StoryFile is probably the best. Why? It is being promoted by William Shatner 😎. And you can even chat with him on the company web site by clicking here.
Post-mortem photography, capturing images of loved ones after death, was common in Victorian Britain – but an always-on, talking replica is a step-change in emotional "stickiness". I am sure Facebook will jump on board this train.
French philosopher Jean Baudrillard wrote about simulacra, representations of reality that are becoming more “real” than reality itself. This creates a new layer of hyperreality where relationships and experiences become mediated entirely through digital simulation – and in this case could detach people from processes of grief, closure and acceptance.
And, relatedly, Anthropic launched an AI Welfare program to research “model welfare.” Researcher Kyle Fish suggested that Anthropic’s Claude model might already possess some form of consciousness, assigning it a startling 15% likelihood.
But Neuroscientist Anil Seth urges caution – humans have a tendency to confuse AI’s linguistic fluency and problem-solving skills with genuine consciousness.
| 
