Reviving the Dead: Human Grief and the Limits of AI

This month’s AI Corner features an essay entitled “Beyond the Grave: Should AI Revive the Past?” In it, students Anna Bulto ’26 and Skylar Li ’26 explore the ethical issues associated with the use of AI video-generation platforms to speak with the deceased. This has already taken place in educational settings, but now the technology is reaching into the personal lives of those who have lost a loved one. The ethical concerns regarding a deceased person’s lack of consent leads to questions about the right to privacy and autonomy and the overall notion of “dignity after death.”

The desire to communicate with the dead is nothing new. For decades, psychic mediums have claimed to be able to connect with those who have died. For me, the use of AI platforms to seemingly communicate as a deceased loved one presents much more significant ethical questions and concerns than going to a medium who claims to pass along messages from a realm beyond this life.

The issue of “death” continues to evolve. With the increase in medical technologies in recent years, society no longer views death as a natural part of life. If a person who is sick or elderly does not survive an illness, it’s considered a “failure” in the healthcare world. Even our language around death has been softened — a person does not “die”; a person “passes away.” Of course, losing a loved one is one of the most painful parts of life. But it’s also inevitable, whether or not we want to accept it.   

The use of AI to create seemingly authentic versions of deceased persons is a slippery slope. I fear that speaking to artificial versions of loved ones after they have died will only contribute to society’s difficulty with accepting our mortality. And in doing so, we can lose the essence of our humanity and what it means to be human. It’s only when we experience death and realize that life is finite do we take a moment to consider the meaning of life and the people with whom we share that life. Making the most of our time as living, breathing beings is what brings meaning and purpose to life. The delusion of continuing a relationship with an AI version of a deceased loved one has pushed us beyond reality and into science fiction. If death is seemingly erased, the question “What does it mean to be human?” will take on new meaning and put us in a place where “life” is part of a virtual non-reality.

Karen Rezach, Director of The Ethics Institute