AI “deathbots” are helping people in China grieve

AI "deathbots" that imitate deceased loved ones have become a popular application of generative AI in China, where entrepreneurs sell chatbots with cloned voices and appearances resembling the dead. Yancy Zhu said a bot made from her late father on the Glow platform helped her feel she was speaking to him again, while Arthur Wu, a Beijing product manager, has attracted about 2,000 users, including 100 paid customers. Ting Guo of the Chinese University of Hong Kong said limited public bereavement resources made online fortune-telling and AI chatbots accessible means of consolation. Experts quoted in the article, including Nathan Mladin of Theos, warned that the bots could stop people from resuming their lives.