PLAN / EXIT STRATEGY
FOREVER CONVERSATIONS Artificial intelligence is providing solace to grieving people through conversations with their loved ones. But is it a help or hindrance? Words TRUDIE McCONNOCHIE
H ave you ever replayed the final voicemail someone left you before they passed away? Reread an old text message, and wished with all your heart that the conversation could continue? When you’ve lost someone you love, the desire to communicate with them again can be achingly strong. Now, thanks to rapidly evolving technology called ‘grief tech’, it’s possible to do just that – but not everyone is sold on the benefits. AI applications such as StoryFile and HereAfter record living people talking about their lives and sharing memories, then match their responses to questions people ask now, or years later after they’ve gone, via audio or video chat.
StoryFile made headlines when co-founder Stephen Smith ‘communicated’ with his late mother on a video screen at her funeral. His fellow co-founder Heather Maio- Smith explains that the company was created to help people preserve memories for future generations. While it wasn’t designed for grief support, she acknowledges that some are using it for that purpose. “We’ve had individuals use their StoryFiles during wakes or funerals or memorials, and it has been interesting that no-one yet has thought it was weird. They’ve all really appreciated hearing the stories again, hearing their loved one’s voice again,” she says. A few people have filmed their
parents, who have then passed away, and on their birthdays will ‘talk’ to them. “They just say ‘hi’ or ‘I love you’, and they’ll say, ‘I love you’ back,” Heather says. “We have one gentleman that feels like he has his mum in his pocket to just take her out and say, ‘Hi, Mum’.” What makes grief tech so powerful is that it brings someone to life in a way that a letter or photo cannot. “A lot of conversation is non-verbal,” Heather says. “Looking into someone’s eyes, and seeing the way that they’re saying something, hearing them as they’ve said it, watching their hands and how they’re sitting… all these different body cues that we have allow us as human
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DARE SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2023
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