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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Technology
Alex Hern UK technology editor

Digital recreations of dead people need urgent regulation, AI ethicists say

Close up of white stone grave in cross shape reading RIP in graveyard with other graves behind it
Ethicists fear unscrupulous companies and thoughtless business practices could cause lasting psychological harm. Photograph: Jack Sullivan/Alamy

Digital recreations of dead people are on the cusp of reality and urgently need regulation, AI ethicists have argued, warning “deadbots” could cause psychological harm to, and even “haunt”, their creators and users.

Such services, which are already technically possible to create and legally permissible, could let users upload their conversations with dead relatives to “bring grandma back to life” in the form of a chatbot, researchers from the University of Cambridge suggest.

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