Posthumous AI Avatars Shift From Memorial Tools To Revenue Generators (npr.org) 47
Digital resurrections of deceased individuals are emerging as the next commercial frontier in AI, with the digital afterlife industry projected to reach $80 billion within a decade. Companies developing these AI avatars are exploring revenue models ranging from interstitial advertising during conversations to data collection about users' preferences.
StoryFile CEO Alex Quinn confirmed his company is exploring methods to monetize interactions between users and deceased relatives' digital replicas, including probing for consumer information during conversations. The technology has already demonstrated persuasive capabilities in legal proceedings, where an AI recreation of road rage victim Chris Pelkey delivered testimony that contributed to a maximum sentence. Current implementations operate through subscription models, though no federal regulations govern commercial applications of posthumous AI representations despite state-level protections for deceased individuals' likeness rights.
StoryFile CEO Alex Quinn confirmed his company is exploring methods to monetize interactions between users and deceased relatives' digital replicas, including probing for consumer information during conversations. The technology has already demonstrated persuasive capabilities in legal proceedings, where an AI recreation of road rage victim Chris Pelkey delivered testimony that contributed to a maximum sentence. Current implementations operate through subscription models, though no federal regulations govern commercial applications of posthumous AI representations despite state-level protections for deceased individuals' likeness rights.
The raping and pillaging (Score:3)
knows no limit.
Re: (Score:1, Informative)
A few weeks ago, some cuck like (((Anderson Cooper))) "interviewed" an AI-generated video of some murdered kid. The network paid off the kid's parents to do some anti-gun trope that the kid would never have said. It was kind of like Cartman using Kyle's dead grandmother as a puppet.
Re: (Score:2)
Jim Acosta
Re: The raping and pillaging (Score:2)
Re:The raping and pillaging (Score:4, Informative)
It never did with these people. Decent people do not rape or pillage in the first place. But decent people are rare.
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My ancestors only pillaged! They were eunuchs.
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You can't pillage what you haven't raped. It's the most etymological meaning of the word from the Latin rapere: seize, snatch, grab, carry off.
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Good one!
Digital Ghouls... (Score:1)
monetize vs. polyp (Score:2)
Polyp used to be my least favorite word. I would read or hear it, and it would make me feel just gross.
I think monetize, however, is now my least favorite word.
Comment Subject: (Score:1)
> resurrections of deceased
> interstitial advertising during conversations
modern corpos have managed to make necromancers look good
this deserves an achievement banner to pop up, you don't see that every day
Holy ever loving shit. (Score:5, Insightful)
StoryFile CEO Alex Quinn confirmed his company is exploring methods to monetize interactions between users and deceased relatives' digital replicas, including probing for consumer information during conversations.
What the god damned fuck? Seriously? Using avatars of dead relatives to probe people for monetization potential? Are you fucking serious? Like spinning up replicas of dead relatives isn't creepy enough on the surface, now they're going to use them to pump people for "consumer information." And even worse, they're proud enough of the idea to be talking openly about it as if were some great advance, some boast-able achievement for all of humanity.
We've lost the fucking thread. Cancel us as a species. We don't deserve to exist anymore.
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Dumbass, have you ever paid any attention [mashable.com] to the gay-ass silicon valley startups out there? P.S. the link I provided isn't great, but google sucks ass for results anymore. There used to be some great compilations of startup concept FAILs, but some dipshit vulture capitalists undoubtedly had google bury them.
No venture capitalist needed to tell Google to do anything. They're happily destroying their search results all on their own.
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Bot: "What's in your wallet?"
Me: "None of your business, Grandma!"
Yet another real-life Black Mirror episode... (Score:2)
AI companies have to be just drooling over some of the things in Black Mirror at this point. This was basically the whole plot of Be Right Back in season 2.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:2)
There is always those that think stories describing immoral and despicable behaviors are actually a nice inspiration for things to do. Too many of those people and to few limits, and a society goes to shit. This effect is amplified by those that do not care but want to push their own deranged ideas, usually from the religious spectrum.
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And Max Headroom did this 20 years before that [youtu.be]... or perhaps it was 20 minutes into the future?
Eww (Score:5, Insightful)
This is genuinely sick. These people have no shame, and are in the same class as fake mediums who hold "seances" to con grieving survivors out of money.
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Unfettered / low-fettered capitalism is an invitation to scammers of all sorts, many of them operating completely immorally, but legally.
Re: Eww (Score:3)
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So, one invitation makes all other invitations non-viable? You must be really stupid.
Re: Eww (Score:2)
gwher, you can always be relied upon to represent the lowest common denominator of condescending, mean-spirited human behavior. A silk purse among pigs' ears, a pearl among swine, a real prince among men - you never disappoint.
next up Musk willl get them to have inheritence (Score:2)
Nice! (Score:2)
So, I could use my dead peepaw to work in a helpline sweatshop?
And the story continues (Score:5, Insightful)
A technology is invented
Good people use it for good, evil people use it for evil
Smart people use it to increase knowledge, stupid people use it for stupid fads
I see great potential for AI in science, engineering, medicine, etc
Unfortunately, the moroons will misuse it spectacularly
Rinse, repeat
So far Generative AI has been far more evil (Score:2)
A technology is invented Good people use it for good, evil people use it for evil Smart people use it to increase knowledge, stupid people use it for stupid fads I see great potential for AI in science, engineering, medicine, etc Unfortunately, the moroons will misuse it spectacularly Rinse, repeat
AI would be beneficial with more accuracy. Today's AI can't solve basic coding problems or even accurately summarize text. I just had Gemini scare the shit out of me when I googled a side effect for an extremely common and used medication. It got it exactly wrong. It treats the symptom...the AI said it causes it. I simply googled the medication name and side effects...in the past, I would have been directed to a manufacturer's webpage...now AI is hallucinating that it does the opposite of what it does.
Please send the big asteroid... (Score:2)
...its time now.
Frontier? (Score:2)
This is the "next frontier"? Give me a break. It's just the next grift by some huckster who wants to get those sweet, sweet VC dollars. I wish someone would do the "editing" when posting and call a spade a spade.
All of this is just a total clown show where big corps are spending hundreds of billions of dollars on the off chance they can become the next Google, and these small companies are just leeching off them. It's like scam software/affiliate networks from the 2000s.
Spoiler alert: if you want to be the
What? (Score:2)
The technology has already demonstrated persuasive capabilities in legal proceedings, where an AI recreation of road rage victim Chris Pelkey delivered testimony that contributed to a maximum sentence.
Seriously? Does this mean that they persuaded the judge to alter the verdict, using their zombie to impersonate the dead guy? Bene Tleilaxu with their gholas would be proud, for these who know what I'm talking about. This is absolutely disgusting and probably a gross miscarriage of justice. Don't get me wrong, I have no sympathy for murderers, but justice is justice and needs to have some standards.
Re: (Score:2)
All of the obnoxious advertising stuff sucks - that is par for advertising - but this angle seems particularly terrible.
Use in legal proceedings to present a "victim impact statement" from a deceased person seems super shady and I'm surprised courts would allow it. How is this any better than hearsay? "We're pretty sure this is how they'd feel, or at least how I'd like them to feel."
Maybe the defendant's council can create their own AI representation of the victim going on about the bad day they were having
Re: What? (Score:2)
Is the whole tech industry trash at this point? (Score:2)
Social media is about collecting user data so people can be manipulated and sold more crap they dont need. The internet has turned into a seething flame war between trolls. Rather than advance science and improving the human condition, we are using AI to again manipulate society and sell people more crap that they dont need. So why are we spending so much time and energy on a tech industry that isnt moving us forward?
What did you expect? (Score:2)
The companies doing it because they have too much money?
So uhh (Score:2)
I remember this plot line.. (Score:2)
Is this a plot from Black Mirror :o (Score:2)
Oblig. Max Headroom (Score:2)
Yes! It's wonderful, isn't it! [youtube.com]
*Has* to Be a Scam (Score:2)
Previous comments have been drawing analogies to Black Mirror, but this "idea" goes back much further...
...This is an episode of Max Headroom (US version).
Specifically, S02E02: "Deities." A company claims to be able to bring past loved ones back to "life" as an AI, for a modest recurring fee. But Bryce (the creator of Max Headroom) opines they can't possibly have the compute power to do it, as it requires a large mainframe just to run Max's highly flawed, glitching bust.
Wouldn't surprise me if the "
Mom, Grandma just told me to buy an iPhone (Score:2)
Imagine if (when) there is a clause in the licensing where the deceased is part of the advertisement customization.
Uncle Billy just told me to buy a motorcycle. Didn't he die by falling off one??
Grandpa just showed me his fishnet stockings; says to buy them at Target because they are super comfortable.
Re: Mom, Grandma just told me to buy an iPhone (Score:1)
Do want (Score:1)
Killer app (Score:1)