Death is a one of the most common processes of life. However, what comes after death is grief. The idea of grieving over the loss of a loved ones involves the painful memories of interacting each other and the scary thought of never seeing or talking to the person again. However, with the constantly improving technology, people have managed to use artificial intelligence to create chatbots. People have gathered data from text messages, messaging apps, Skype messages, and anything that can mimic the deceased’s style and created a program where if people were to message this bot, it will respond almost the same as the person. Other people hope to freeze their brain through neuropreservation, have the information from the brain be translated into data for a program, and be recreated in the future. However, with all these possibilities, people need to stop and think: is technology supporting and helping loved ones through grief or simply preventing them from moving on, which has been one of the common processes in life?
People have to stop and assess what makes the loss of a loved one so hard to get over; however, we need to need to determine whether technology helps and supports the grievers or prevents them from moving on with their lives. In the article, “Speak, Memory” by Casey Newton, the deceased’s, Roman, death was abrupt, which left many of his friends and family members struck with sudden grief. In this case, nobody was mentally prepared unlike the deaths of old age or patients who have had cancer or some terminating illness. Although “dying is a part of life,” said by a father in “Dying Young Woman’s Hope for in Cryonics and a Future” by Amy Harmon, everybody’s times of death are unpredictable. When somebody dies, the memories are all that is left, so people tend to stick to them rewinding them endlessly in their minds. The initial pain is gruesome as many cannot let their loved ones go; however, as time goes on, the deaths and pain become a part of who they are. And yet, what are our options when it comes to pain? People will either tackle pain and the grieving process head on or avoid it as long as possible until they cannot anymore.
Technology, specifically AI, has only started to rise during the past several years, and it is now being made into a way for people to grieve. However, what makes it so unique from the old grieving methods, such as pictures, videos, and talking to gravestones? People are grieving the same, but they are using different and unique methods. With mourning and the technology, the difference is now between self-created conversations that people make when they are thinking about the person and having conversations with the chat bot that collected all of the old messages of the deceased and programmed to mimic them. One of the early uses of technology with grieving started with social media. People create memorials on Facebook or they continuously comment on the deceased’s profile, so it will never be deactivated. Additionally, the posts on the deceased’s profile can be used as a memorial, so people can come back and view it whenever they want. In “Dying Young Woman’s Hope for in Cryonics and a Future” by Amy Harmon, the boyfriend used Facebook to create a memorial page for his deceased girlfriend and noted that “Until (or unless) the day comes that Kim can be brought back … remember her, celebrate her, and emulate her resilience, so we can create the future of her dreams.” The future of her dreams was to recreate her using her brain through the assistance of cryonics. Additionally, in “Griefbot that Could Change How We Mourn,” the writer noted that grieving has been made easier. With the old grieving methods, people used their minds – they let them wander, such as recreating old memories when looking at pictures, letters, and videos. People think about how the other person would respond when they are talking about something. Traditional grieving methods allow one to reflect themselves whereas the newer methods are not necessarily assisting them in their reflection. And yet, there are people who may be better off using the new way of grieving: artificial intelligence. In “Speak, Memory,” the writer pointed out that people were skeptical of the idea of messaging their dead friend and the program responding. They are very aware of the situation they are in, so some people’s feedback was that they were shock to find how similar the responses were to Roman’s. There are people who enter para-social relationships, “one-sided relationships in which one person puts a great deal of energy into while the other doesn’t even realize they exist,” as the article “Griefbot That Could Change How We Mourn” put it. If one person interacts with something, they end up developing this kind of relationship without fully realizing it and it can potentially prevent them from grieving the loss of the person. That is simply the irrational side of the brain. The rational side of the brain would constantly remind people that the AI is not real, thus, cognitive override. Roman’s dad, for example, pointed out that when he talked to the bot, it responded incorrectly; thus, it points out that people may talk to different people differently, such as the way one talks to their parents versus the way they talk to their friends.
If an artificial intelligence program was created to read a person's facial expression, what is going to stop those creators to use that program and combine it with the griefbot. From Rana el Kaliouby's TedTalk "This App Knows How You Feel - From the Look on Your Face," she talked about how the advancing technology is decreasing everybody's emotional responses to everything. Machines themselves have a high IQ, but barely any EQ. By incorporating EQ into a machine, we are a step closer to the episode "Be Right Back" from Black Mirror.
However, with this potential project, it is potentially harmful for the grievers because they will not be able to move on if the technology responds to their changing mood and feelings.
Artificial intelligence has stirred up a lot of opinions in the past several years, most of them were either in support of it, especially if it can aid people in daily work, or were against because some fear that it will take over the human race in some way. Additionally, people argue that artificial intelligence, specifically chat bots or grief bots, provide therapeutic effects for those grieving; whereas, people question the effectiveness of it. Kuyda, friend of the Roman and the creator of the Roman bot, initially had mixed feelings about the usefulness of the bot, “‘But is it really what’s beneficial for us? Is it letting go, by forcing you to actually feel everything? Or is it just having a dead person in your attic? Where is the line? Where are we? It screws with your brain.’” Kuyda is providing the idea that the memorial bot may actually be forcing us to deal with our feelings – to feel first and then to let go. In a sense, it is suggesting that people should purge themselves of grief by feeling all of the emotions. In response to the Roman bot, one believed that the project “continued Roman’s life and saved ours.” They believe that this way, people will not forget Roman and be safe from the temporary insanity people go through when they are grieving. One of the therapeutic effects mentioned was confessions. People were more open and confessed to the Roman bot. One of the uses of the machine was that the bot listened to them rather than trying to respond to whatever their problems were. One friend of Roman pointed out that the reason she participates in the project is because she is “sending a message to heaven. For [her] it’s more about sending a message in a bottle than getting one in a return.” She is releasing her feelings and thoughts through the messaging, which, in return, is helping her heal from the loss of a friend. The stages of grief are all very different; however, it seems all too familiar. They are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. In the article “Griefbot That Could Change How We Mourn” by Chris Godfrey, pointed out that by interacting with griefbots, we can potentially speed up people’s mourning process because they are not only forcing them to feel everything but also unlocking memories and stories for people to remember and hear. It sounds pretty intense, but some people need that push in life through whatever they are going through, whether it is striving for a goal or mourning over a loved one, because it allows “people to reach out and get social support … in short term it might be that having these bots, [and] the ability to still make contract in a way that feels meaningful, would alleviate some of that initial distress.” The five stages of grief are the average and the time for each stage cannot be determined. Nonetheless, the topic of whether artificial intelligence can offer therapeutic effects is up to each and every individual to decide because everybody tackles grief differently.
www.thedailybeast.com/the-griefbot-that-could-change-how-we-mourn?ref=scroll.
Machinery has slowly made its way through history, starting from the Industrial Revolution. The idea of technology assisting us in our daily work. Now, they are invented to help us with our personal lives. Even though artificial intelligence has the potential of relieving some of the pain from grieving, it cannot be compared to a living human being helping another through the process. Machines and artificial intelligence are programmed, so they can only do so much.
When it comes to communicating with artificial intelligence, some may wonder why people are willing to participate in such activities and if they are aware that such projects are actually just a program that people created. People want to continue their bonds with the deceased; however, with them gone, physically seeing them would be nearly impossible. Technology is already incorporated into our daily lives, and yet, people are skeptical about having artificial intelligence programs mimicking their loved ones. There are many people who prefer the old to the new – the past to the present. Grieving can be as simple as one makes it out to be, regardless of the methods. People are adapting to the continuously growing society, and it is a matter of time before people truly find a way to preserve one person or actually discover immortality.
References:
Newton, Casey. “When Her Best Friend Died, She Used Artificial Intelligence to Keep Talking to Him.” The Verge, The Verge, 6 Oct. 2016, www.theverge.com/a/luka-artificial-intelligence-memorial-roman-mazurenko-bot.
Harmon, Amy. “A Dying Young Woman's Hope in Cryonics and a Future.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 Sept. 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/us/cancer-immortality-cryogenics.html?_r=0.
McRobbie, Linda Rodriguez. “The Strange and Mysterious History of the Ouija Board.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 27 Oct. 2013, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-strange-and-mysterious-history-of-the-ouija-board-5860627/.
Godfrey, Chris. “The Griefbot That Could Change How We Mourn.” The Daily Beast, The Daily Beast Company, 13 Jan. 2018, www.thedailybeast.com/the-griefbot-that-could-change-how-we-mourn?ref=scroll.
Matei, Adrienne. “New Technology Is Forcing Us to Confront the Ethics of Bringing People Back from the Dead.” Quartz, Quartz, 27 Jan. 2017, qz.com/896207/death-technology-will-allow-grieving-people-to-bring-back-their-loved-ones-from-the-dead-digitally/.
Jacobs, Emma. “How Technology Is Changing the Way We Grieve.” Financial Times, Financial Times, 2 Mar. 2018, www.ft.com/content/95dc5584-1c12-11e8-aaca-4574d7dabfb6.
“How I Immortalised My Dead Father through a Facebook Chatbot.” ABC News, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2 Aug. 2017, www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/how-i-immortalised-my-father-through-facebook/8768062.
https://www.ted.com/talks/rana_el_kaliouby_this_app_knows_how_you_feel_from_the_look_on_your_face/transcript?referrer=playlist-talks_on_artificial_intelligen#t-41409
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld9m8Xrpko0
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