A Little (Bring) Back Story
In the early days of sound movies legendary actor John Barrymore led a merry band of hard-drinking pranksters that included director Raul Walch and actors Errol Flynn and W.C. Fields. The fermented four could be found most nights lighting up and then closing down the most famous watering holes in Hollywood.
It was a sad day then when the great Barrymore died. His friends naturally observed his passing by gathering for “a” drink.
As Walsh told it, Flynn lamented that he could not have one more drink with his old friend. Walsh slipped away from the gathering and, utilizing a contact at the funeral home, took Barrymore out for one last binge.
When Flynn returned home in the wee hours, he was greeted by the sight of his late friend in a chair with a drink in his hand attended by Walsh and Fields. Shocked at first, Flynn soon warmed to the idea of fulfilling his wish. The group drank and reminisced a few hours before Barrymore had to return to the funeral home for what was his final performance.
Or was it?
Bring Out Your Dead
We could well see Barrymore again. After all, through some form of digital resurrection, numerous actors have appeared in movies and commercials after their deaths. For instance:
- Fred Astaire appeared in a Dirt Devil commercial 10 years after he died. The ad was put together with old film footage from the film “Royal Wedding” and “Easter Parade”. It showed Astaire dancing up a wall, across a ceiling, and down another wall using Dirt Devil products to clean as he went.
- Audrey Hepburn’s image was digitally recreated for a Dove Chocolate commercial in 2014. That was 17 years after her death.
- Dior perfume went even further. They featured four actresses in a 2011 commercial – one living and three dead. Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, and Grace Kelly appeared or rather reappeared opposite Charlize Theron. Monroe even had a speaking part in which she said “Dior” although she died in 1962. Kelly died in 1982. Dietrich died in 1992.
Pushback
Using images of famous dead people to hawk wares is not new. There are even talent agents who represent dead celebrities. Often they own the rights to the images or work of those celebrities. As a result, they are free to operate outside the performer’s wishes and those of surviving family members regarding digital resurrection
Astaire’s daughter Ava sent her Dirt Devil vacuum back to the company after the ad featuring her father appeared. She commented that she was “saddened that after his wonderful career, he was sold to the devil.”
During the actor’s strike that ran from July to November 9th last year, Zelda Williams, actor, and daughter of Robin Williams spoke out about using regenerated voices and images of dead actors.
“These recreations are, at their very best, a poor facsimile of greater people,” Williams wrote on Instagram, “but at their worst, a horrendous Frankensteinian monster, cobbled together from the worst bits of everything this industry is, instead of what it should stand for.”
Grief Tech
While the use and abuse of celebrity images has been around for a long time – a new twist is emerging in the effort to bring back the dead.
In early 2021, Charlotte Jee, MIT Technology Review’s news editor, spoke on the telephone to her parents as colleagues listened in on a Zoom call. The reason her associates wanted to eavesdrop is that Jee’s real parents were not part of the conversation.
The phone call was between Jee and a virtual recreation of her parents. It was done to test what is becoming known as grief tech.
A growing number of firms are cropping up to digital resurrections. They include companies such as HereAfter AI, StoryFile, Replika, and Seance AI.
All of the businesses use software and/or technical personnel to guide users through a questionnaire about the deceased. That information is then used to train an AI-backed algorithm and deep learning to mimic the dead person.
That can be used to produce interactive communications with technically regenerated individuals. Those interactions can come in the form of phone conversations such as the ones experienced by Jee. However, they can also appear as text messages from avatars of the dead person. They can even show up as a video chat in which you have a responsive conversation.
Grief tech companies use old videos, home movies, and photographs to create digital images of the deceased for video chats. To replicate speech patterns and generate responses for after-life conversations, the companies comb through text messages, letters, and recordings.
However, if, like Jee’s parents, you are still with us, you can answer the questionnaires and submit images yourself.
Price plans for these services typically range from a few dollars a month upward. However, specialized services can cost more.
In China, where grief tech has taken off, customized services can cost as much as $13,710.
Do not resuscitate and Do Not Digitize Me
Some may like the idea of digital immortality. Others find peace in the idea that they can comfort loved ones after death.
However, others may feel digital resurrection is overstaying their welcome. For them, there are few to no protections.
Patients admitted to a hospital are routinely asked if they want to sign a do not resuscitate (DNR) order. The idea is that if you are incapacitated, the order will serve as a legal instruction to medical staff not to resuscitate you if you stop breathing or your heart stops.
However, there is no such legal order prohibiting someone from digitally resurrecting you. That is because grief tech is in its infancy. However, it is growing fast. As a result, legislative and case law has not caught up.
An article in the Federal Communications Law Journal (FCLJ) states the case for putting guard rails on the use of digital recreation.
“Over the next few years, artificial intelligence will only grow in popularity and become more accessible to the general public,” writes FCLJ Managing Editor Rebecca J. Roberts. ”There must be preemptive action to protect against a free range of artificial intelligence creations—especially synthetic media. To protect private citizens against the unauthorized creation and use of synthetic media and digital clones after death, probate law should automatically disallow such actions unless explicit permission is given prior to death.”
Lacking specific laws and regulations, your best bet for granting or prohibiting your digital recreation after death may be a will. However, before you call your lawyer, you may want to
have a chat with your family about whether you should come back to haunt/comfort them.
Of course, if you don’t get around to having that conversation, you can always wait and let your avatar do the talking.
What Would You Want?
A recent U.S. survey found that 58 percent of respondents favored digital resurrection when the deceased gave prior consent. However, that figure dropped to three percent when prior consent was not given.
In addition, the survey found that 59 percent were opposed to their own digital resurrection.
What would you want?
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