Digital legacies - responsible innovation?
Leaving digital footprints behind
We all have a digital footprint. Be it on social media, via music downloads, gaming avatars, voicemails, photos or email. But what happens to all of these digital touchpoints when someone dies and could AI be the way to prolong life after death?
Beyond the basic legal directions of a last will and testament, leaving behind a digital legacy could have ramifications for family and friends wishing to connect beyond the grave. From the passwords to pay energy bills and accessing favourite playlists, to listening to birthday wishes and milestone messages for children who’ve lost a parent. There are many positive reasons for creating a digital vault of practical and emotional memory banks.
“People should leave clear instructions about what should happen to their social media, computer games and other online accounts after their death."
The Law Society, 2014
Harnessing the power of AI
The digital data that people leave behind, is already being used to create a digital representation of their physical self after death. Technology is rapidly catching on to the concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI) legacy bots. These pioneering ‘Griefbots’ are even designed to respond when prompted, imitating the deceased’s conversational style and idiosyncracies.
Whilst for many still living this may appeal as a way to extend life beyond the physical realm, for some, this digital version of self is fraught with legal, moral and psychological difficulties. From the potential risk of data fraud, cyber crime and phishing scams, to whether or not the physical self can rebrand their digital self for an upgraded version, it’s fair to say there isn’t a failsafe prototype in operation yet. However, some tech’ pioneers have taken the first tentative steps into the brave new world of digital legacies. What remains to be seen is whether or not these digital legacies will be a responsible innovation (RI) or carry with them wider moral and legal risks.
69% of people care about being able to access a loved one's social media account(s) after they have died but far fewer people (19%) are happy with others accessing their own social media accounts after death. A significant proportion of people (17%) are 'not sure' where they stand on this matter, suggesting greater engagement with public opinion is necessary.
DeadSocial, 2014.
PHD students taking on the tech’ challenge
The University of Bath recently hosted an RI Challenge for its PHD students to help solve the data and technological challenges faced by local charities and businesses. As part of their brief, two groups were invited to apply RI theory to their local hospice charity, Dorothy House’s ambitions for an AI chat bot and a future-proofed digital will or legacy.
Responsible Innovation (RI) is a key founding stone to safe technological advancement. Taking into account the wider impacts of research and innovation, RI aims to:
avoid unintended negative impacts,
reduce barriers to dissemination, adoption and diffusion of research,
and realise the positive societal and economic benefits of innovation.
University of Bath Cyber Crime PHD students, Emily, Luciano, Jacob, Jess, Tobi, Becca, Hannah and Khadiza with James Byron, Head of Marketing & Engagement, Dorothy House Hospice.
Whilst Chat Bots are already being widely used for a huge variety of websites to varying degrees of success, the students’ presentation on digital legacies and responsible innovation captured the imagination of the Dorothy House hospice team. The group consisting of Becca, Jess, Luciano andTobi began by outlining the challenges faced by previous digital legacy pioneers.
“This isn’t just a farfetched future; it’s happened in the past, and it’s happening now. We created this timeline to show just a few notable examples of existing Legacy Bots and services. Of note, you can actually download an app to chat to the chatbot that Eugenia created of her deceased friend, and you can create your own AI to share your life story using Here After AI.
“In the future, it doesn’t seem farfetched that you won’t even have to use specialist services to create a Legacy Bot…”
Becca, Jess, Luciano & Tobi - University of Bath
The students went on to advise Dorothy House, about how they could counsel and protect patients and families from the riskier aspects of promoting digital legacies. Their presentation can be viewed here.
Legacy Bots
So how do Legacy Bots work? These AI programmes gather data from an individual's digital footprint and use it to simulate conversations containing the words and expressions that would typically have been used by that person whilst alive. Becoming more advanced by the day, the Legacy Bots can even simulate the accent, tone and intonation of an individual’s speech and mannerisms.
After stepping away from acting due to an aphasia diagnosis, in September 2022, Die Hard actor Bruce Willis allowed a digital twin of his image to be created for use in a Russian phone advert. US firm Deepcake transplanted Willis’s digital image onto another actor, but controversy centered over whether or not Bruce Willis had signed over the rights to his identity.
The growth of the ‘deepfake’ technology calls points of rights and ethics into question. Could estates that represent deceased celebrities make headway into an AI version of their deceased to carry on their legacy posthumously? After all, music has already been released even after an artist - such as Michael Jackson - has passed away. Although artists may have recorded the vocals whilst alive, does this mean that they intended for the tracks to be released? More controversial is the idea of starting a new project using their identity as they have no way of approving content or accuracy of their digital twin’s output.
So, with digital twin technology already here, how could it be used to prolong life after death and what impact could these potential ‘Griefbots’ have on the bereavement process?
Grief and Legacy Bots
As reassuring as it may be to know that there is potential to connect with loved ones after death, many are questioning the impact upon those left behind. At what point do the grieving reach a point of closure? Does closure ever occur and could ongoing interaction with a digital version of a loved one elongate or soften the grieving process? Stories are already circulating about the implications of this new psychological sphere.
In an article entitled Communing with the dead online: chatbots, grief, and continuing bonds, Joel Krueger (University of Exeter) Lucy Osler (Center for Subjectivity Research, University of Copenhagen) studied the role of AI in grief and raised concerns about the incentive that commercial AI companies have to encourage addiction and continued use; to essentially sustain grief.
“A particularly pressing concern is to think about the motivation that companies have for providing chatbots: financial gain. Where profit, and not grief work, drives the creation of chatbots, we should be troubled by the idea that the more we engage with bots the more profit they are likely to drive. When these motivations seep into the design, the role that chatbots of the dead play in grief shifts, for such companies likely aim to oil the very path to replacement that we currently think shows resistance and the urgency of such concerns likely quickens.”
Journal of Consciousness Studies, “Understanding Grief: Feeling, Intentionality, Regulation, and Interpretation”
Grieving is a complicated process, unique to the individual and circumstance. But just as the internet and social media has changed the way we live our lives, it has added a transformative and unprecedented dimension to the way we cope with death. Aside from the potential psychological impact of communing with the dead, there are the added potential risks of hackers prowling the Griefbots for data, fraud and phishing scams.
How to safeguard your digital legacy
As we live more and more of our lives online, our digital legacy is increasingly becoming some thing we cannot ignore. When someone dies, it is natural for their loved ones to turn to the social platforms they used when they were alive to remember them.
We can now plan for what we want to happen to our digital estate in a similar way to how we address our physical estate, for example by writing a social media will. Making plans for digital assets, such as MP3 files, eBooks and digital photos can also reduce stress and save money, as they can be transferred to the next of kin.
The Digital Legacy Association launched at Hospice UK National Conference in 2015 and aims to help ensure that everyone’s end of life wishes are met both in the physical world and the digital realm. Their website offers a multitude of resources to support individuals to safely navigate this brave new world.
At a more local level, hospices also offer free digital wills for their patients and families. It is well worth looking on their websites for local support.
