Meet inside The Shops at Waterloo Town Square - we will congregate in the indoor seating area next to the Your Independent Grocer with the trees sticking out in the middle of the benches (pic) at 7:00 pm for 15 minutes, and then head over to my nearby apartment's amenity room. If you've been around a few times, feel free to meet up at the front door of the apartment, which is near Allen Station, instead.

Topic

Once a week, Sun Kai has a video call with his mother. He opens up about work, the pressures he faces as a middle-aged man, and thoughts that he doesn’t even discuss with his wife. His mother will occasionally make a comment, like telling him to take care of himself—he’s her only child. But mostly, she just listens.

That’s because Sun’s mother died five years ago. And the person he’s talking to isn’t actually a person, but a digital replica he made of her—a moving image that can conduct basic conversations. They’ve been talking for a few years now.

This week, we'll be discussing the emerging use of AI technology in grief and remembrance, particularly focusing on the creation of digital replicas of deceased loved ones. While it's making inroads in western cultures, it's been a ~mature technology in China for quite some time now, so I find the writeup particularly fascinating.

Readings

Deepfakes of your dead loved ones are a booming Chinese business (Zeyi Yang, 2024)

Optional Supplements:

In Defense of Chatbot Romance (Kaj Sotala, 2023)
"There has never been more of a vital hinge-y time to write" (Gwern, 2024)

Potential Discussion Questions

• In "In Defense of Chatbot Romance", Sotala suggests that chatbots might fulfill emotional needs that are difficult to meet in human relationships, as well as perform a model of . Could AI replicas of the deceased serve a similar function in the grieving process, and possibly even help us reflect on and improve our relationships with the living? What sorts of interaction with chatbots would be more conducive to these more positive outcomes?
• Yang mentions Chinese cultural traditions around the dead, including confiding to them and hiding the news of death from elderly relatives. Different cultures practice different things around death and remembrance; which cultural practices do you subscribe to, and how do they clash or align with this technology? (Also the ethics of elderly relative deception are wild, let's discuss)
• Considering your own experiences with loss, if you had the opportunity to create and interact with an AI replica of a deceased loved one, would you choose to do so?
• Does the increasing availability of AI replicas affect the way you might approach end-of-life planning? What do you plan on leaving behind for your loved ones?