The Power of Digital Resurrection: Reuniting with Deceased Loved Ones Using AI (Part 1)

Since ancient times, mankind has been inventing methods to immortalize the dead. Egyptian pyramids, temples, altars, rituals – entire religions, cults, and cultures were built upon this premise. And even in the modern rational and practical world of digital things, humanity continues to cling to this idea – people often have a strong reluctance to part with their loved ones, seeking to uphold their memory in every conceivable manner.

Therefore, it is no wonder that nowadays, researchers and scientists are directing significant efforts towards providing us with technological opportunities to reunite with our deceased cherished ones in the most realistic way possible using AI technology. So today, we invite you to delve into the intricacies of such virtual counterparts’ creation, explore the existing solutions the technology offers in this domain by now, and discover why AI avatars stand as one of the most well-suited options for such purposes. 

Understanding the Concept of AI Resurrection

First of all, it should be admitted that the current concept of digital “resurrection” with the help of AI mostly refers to the idea of recreating and simulating the presence and characteristics of deceased individuals in the form of virtual entities. Though the artificial intelligence industry has made significant advancements in the fields of natural language processing, computer vision, and neural networks, this still does not allow to fully replicate an individual’s consciousness – for now, that is just an imitation of bringing them back to life in a virtual world.

However, by analyzing and processing the person’s data, AI algorithms can mimic the departed people’s appearance, mannerisms, and speech patterns with a reasonable degree of realism, and even generate some new content in their style. For example, such virtual embodiments can answer questions and interact with living people based on the knowledge base it has been trained on. Herewith, this data asset could include not only basic information like video and photos but also more extensive background such as writings, speeches, interviews, or any other available information source that can help to catch the intrinsic nature of the “resurrected” person. In consequence, AI bestows a multitude of unique features, inherent to the recreated individual, upon the made-up virtual entity, thus engendering a sense of naturalness in interactions with it.

A Piece of History & Real-Life Examples 

The very first attempts to “resurrect” the passed-away individuals – in particular, celebrities –  were made as long as 11 years ago. Then, the fans were driven into madness by appearing on the stage Tupac and, a few years later, Michael Jackson, materialized in a view of holograms.

Over time, holograms have ceased to surprise anyone. Instead, every day makes us witness more and more advanced and lifelike examples of digital immortalizing. With the rising popularity of GPT models, there has been an emergence of chatbots designed to simulate conversations with deceased individuals, often created by enthusiasts who hold a deep affection for the person gone. Among the popular first-aspiration cases, there are chatbots created by Joshua Barbeau, who “revived” his late fiance by training the GPT-3 language model with their conversation logs, and Eugenia Kuyda, who crafted a chatbot of her departed friend out of his old messages, sent to pals. 

As an example of more advanced solutions, DeepBrain runs the Re;memory service, which aims to create AI copies of dear people yet during their lifetime. This involves collecting data on their appearance, voice, manners, and habits, as well as conducting interviews and composing scenarios to facilitate the AI’s learning process. As a result, after their death, the grieving relatives get an opportunity to meet in a special showroom with a person’s digital replica that closely resembles the essence of the deceased individual or get a tailored video appeal, which preserves their presence and creates lasting memories.

Another service is developed by Amazon – last summer, they announced a new special feature for their personal voice assistant Alexa, which will allow it to speak with the voice of the passed away close person. To mimic this voice, this digital helper requires less than a minute of provided audio for analysis. Though this possibility is not publicly available for now, it holds a promise of providing a profound sense of comfort, helping to preserve fond memories, and being a source of support in daily interactions.

Obviously, these examples represent just a fraction of the solutions that have emerged in the field of digital resurrection, while the technology in this area is continuously advancing and there are numerous other approaches being explored. 

AI Avatars Role: Composing and Crafting Virtual Individuals

In the realm of AI resurrection, the most sophisticated and universal form of embodiment is represented by AI avatars, since these entities combine the conversational possibilities of chatbots with a realistic visual “wrapper” that resembles the outward and movement style of a departed person. To create an AI avatar, various technologies are harnessed, including speech and video synthesis, computer vision, natural language processing, and speech recognition. By leveraging these tools, virtual humans can be generated with the faces, voices, and expressions of deceased individuals, fulfilling the desires of users who seek this service.

Obviously, the highest quality AI Image is achieved when specific data about a person’s appearance and mannerisms is intentionally recorded in a dedicated studio during their lifetime. This includes gathering samples of mimicry, gestures, and other visual cues. However, even without such pre-collected data, technological advancements now allow for the virtual reconstruction of individuals using existing photos and video footage, where the more such pieces are available, the better texture rendering and motion simulation can be guaranteed.

As for the AI Voice, its cloning involves employing text-to-speech (TTS) and AI deep-learning techniques. By analyzing the deceased person’s voice, including its high and low tones, speech patterns, rhythm, and unique pronunciation habits, AI algorithms generate a similar-sounding vocalization. Herewith, this procedure does not even require massive data or special recordings – the latest technological advancements, such as zero-shot voice cloning technology, have greatly simplified the voice replication task. Now, even a small piece of the remaining audio track is enough to grasp the voice’s main characteristics and leverage the similarities found within a vast database of other recorded voices to reproduce the original one.

However, the creation of AI avatars goes beyond mere physical resemblance. By incorporating neural networks and data analysis, the AI can learn and mimic conversational styles, behavioral patterns, thought processes, and responses associated with the person’s known characteristics. While the level of behavioral accuracy may vary based on the amount and quality of the available information that can be used for learning by AI models, generally, the current level of technological progress allows the designing of lifelike virtual representations that capture and reproduce the essence of an individual even after they have passed away.

Conclusion

In the ever-evolving landscape of technology, the concept of digital resurrection has emerged as a testament to humanity’s deep-rooted desire to hold onto cherished memories and connections. The journey of virtual immortality continues to unfold, and alongside it, AI avatars play a central role in enriching these experiences. 

We invite you to be part of this fascinating exploration and embark on the path of creating your own AI avatar. Write to us today to begin your journey into the realm of lifelike digital interactions!

And the second part of the article you can read here.