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Big tech firms are reportedly developing technology based on artificial intelligence that would recreate digital replicas of long-dead historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln that could perform real-life tasks like running companies or countries.
Earlier this year, two researchers at Microsoft received approval for a patent for a ‘conversational chat bot’.
The technology creates a three-dimensional digital simulation of a human complete with voice reconstruction and distinct personality traits pieced together by an algorithm examining that person’s social media posts.
Data gleaned from the person’s social media, emails, letters, and other sources would create an aggregate ‘chat bot’ that can ‘converse and interact in the personality of the specific person.’
That would enable people to converse with digital replicas of their departed loved ones.
Users of the technology ‘may correspond to a past or present entity (or a version thereof), such as a friend, a relative, an acquaintance, a celebrity, a fictional character, a historical figure,’ according to the patent.
Big tech firms are reportedly developing technology based on artificial intelligence that would recreate digital replicas of long-dead historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln that could perform real-life tasks like run companies or countries. The image on the left shows an oil canvas of Lincoln. The image on the right is a chat bot developed by Replika
Data gleaned from the person’s social media, emails, letters, and other sources would create an aggregate ‘chat bot’ that can ‘converse and interact in the personality of the specific person.’
The patent, which was developed by Microsoft inventors Dustin Abramson and Joseph Johnson, was filed in 2017. It finally won approval in January of this year.
Other start-ups including Replika and HereAfter AI already use artificial intelligence to concoct digital personas.
Now The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the technology could evolve to the point where digital recreations of the deceased may be programmed to adapt to current realities.
According to the Journal, a business executive who dies could be recreated in digital form and then learn to continue running a company long after the original human is gone.
Earlier this year, two researchers at Microsoft received approval for a patent for a ‘conversational chat bot’. The patent, which was developed by Microsoft inventors Dustin Abramson (right) and Joseph Johnson (left), was filed in 2017. It finally won approval in January of this year.
Other digital simulations could even be put in spaceships and sent to the far reaches of outer space.
One disadvantage of using AI-generated digital replicas is that the computerized version of the deceased human is based solely on their writings, speech, and social media posts, which may not accurately capture their essence.
The digital persona also has no consciousness or self-awareness.
There is also the issue of who gets to benefit from income generated by the avatar.
AI-generated digital personas also raise moral and ethical questions about mourning and grieving a loved one’s passing.
There is also the matter of whether the deceased individual would have wanted to see their likeness recreated by a computer.
Experts, however, said that these kinds of questions will likely be wrestled with many years from now, when the technology develops to the point where chat bots could evolve.
Earlier this year, genealogy website MyHeritage unveiled a bizarre new online tool that can animate old photos of deceased family members. The free deepfake technology, called Deep Nostalgia, takes any photo and animates the subject’s face – with strangely realistic and unsettling results. Examples provided by MyHeritage show historical figures, including Queen Victoria, Mark Twain and Florence Nightingale, come to life. The tech uses a modern-day input to animate photos of the deceased
Earlier this year, genealogy website MyHeritage unveiled a bizarre new online tool that can animate old photos of deceased family members.
The free deepfake technology, called Deep Nostalgia, takes any photo and animates the subject’s face – with strangely realistic and unsettling results.
Examples provided by MyHeritage show historical figures, including Queen Victoria, Mark Twain and Florence Nightingale, come to life.
MyHeritage says the tech gives history ‘a fresh new perspective’ by producing a depiction of how a person ‘could have moved and looked if captured on video.’
It’s been developed by researchers at Israel-based firm D-ID, which specializes in video reenactment using deep learning.
Anyone can use the tool on the Deep Nostalgia webpage by uploading or drag-and-dropping an image – although to see the results you’ll need a MyHeritage account.
Currently, there is technology on the market that is capable of recreating life-like hologram images of famous dead people.
Last year, the late Whitney Houston returned to the concert stage – sort of.
Virtual: Last year, Kim Kardashian received a hologram of her late father Robert from then-husband Kanye West in celebration of her 40th birthday
Buddy Holly, pictured in 1957, was also re-created in hologram form. This proved a challenge, according to the creators, as no color pictures or films of him are available
Whitney’s return follows in the footsteps of the hologram for Roy Orbison (left) and right pictured performing on a TV show
A hologram version of the late pop star – who died aged 48 in 2012 – performed several shows in Europe before the remainder of the tour was postponed and rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The 90-minute show, complete with full band, backing singers and dancers, was in final rehearsals in Los Angeles and was set to feature 17 of her songs, including I Wanna Dance With Somebody, Greatest Love Of All and Saving All My Love For You.
Houston’s re-appearance follows in the artificial footsteps of Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison, hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur, oddball rocker Frank Zappa and even the opera singer Maria Callas.
In 2014, the hologram of the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson, performed at the Billboard Music Awards nearly five years after the singer’s death.
Tupac Shakur, pictured left as a hologram and right performing at the Regal Theatre in Chicago in 1994, was also re-created with the technology at Coachella in 2012
In 2014, the hologram of the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson, performed at the Billboard Music Awards nearly five years after the singer’s death
Last year, Kim Kardashian revealed that she received a hologram of her late father Robert from then-husband Kanye West, in celebration of her 40th birthday.
Famed attorney Robert Kardashian, who tragically passed away from esophageal cancer in July of 2003 at the age of 59, was brought back to virtual life for the unconventional gift, which a number of fans have branded ‘creepy’.
Among the statements made by the virtual incarnation of the late Kardashian patriarch were that his famous daughter was ‘all grown up’, while he also hailed Kanye, 43, as ‘the most genius man in the whole world.’