Fridarose Hamad, “AI Mourning and the Digital Afterlife: An Interrogation and Categorization of Griefbots”
Mentor: Linnea Laestadius, Public Health, Public Health (Joseph J. Zilber School of)
Poster #4
The Digital Afterlife Industry (DAI) has evolved significantly since its early roots in the mid-2000s, when platforms like Facebook began memorializing deceased users’ accounts instead of deleting them. This marked a shift in how death and digital presence interact. With the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models (LLMs), currently, the DAI extends beyond static memorialization into dynamic, interactive recreations of deceased individuals. Known as AI griefbots or ghostbots, these LLMs, similar to other AI chatbots look to build a “personality” of a deceased loved one, while continuing to learn from user interaction to become increasingly more adept at revitalizing the deceased.
This project explores these griefbots as a nuanced industry, creating a framework to help future examination of these varied services. In establishing the framework to examine these differences, we propose a malleable questionnaire of griefbot services. With this questionnaire, there is a basis for interrogation of these services and the beginnings of a deeper understanding of the ethical considerations, AI implementation, and intent of these services. In creating a set questionnaire, we standardize the way we approach griefbots, thus allowing for continued cross-comparisons with these services as they come and go.