What is the 'digital ghost' business that uses AI and hologram technology?
Advances in AI technology have given rise to chatbots that can converse like humans, and image and video generation technology that creates natural images and videos. A data science expert explains the details and dangers of the 'digital ghost' business model that is emerging with these technologies.
An eerie 'digital afterlife' is no longer science fiction. So how do we navigate the risks?
The rapid evolution of generative AI has made it easy to have natural conversations with chatbots and automatically generate content. AI can generate completely fictitious photos of people and voices of people who do not exist, but OpenAI's ' Voice Engine ' can generate a 'clone voice' from 15 seconds of audio, and Google's ' VLOGGER ' can generate 'realistic videos of people speaking with gestures' from a single photo and audio, making it possible to create 'deep fakes' that fabricate photos and videos of real people. Sometimes, the creation of 'deep nudes' of real women using generative AI can be problematic.
The problem of male students creating 'deep nudes' of girls using generative AI apps is becoming more serious - GIGAZINE
The digital ghost, or digital afterlife, business works in much the same way as deepfakes: It uses data from a deceased person's social media posts, email and text messaging habits, and voice recordings to create a 'digital persona' that learns from and interacts with that person.
There are already several digital ghost businesses, such as an app called HereAfter that allows you to create a chatbot that can talk to a person after death by storing their memories in an interview format, and a service called MyWishes that allows you to send messages to the future and have them delivered to your family, in addition to preparing your will and funeral. Also, Hong Kong robotics company Hanson Robotics has developed a 'bust robot' that interacts with people using their personal memories and personality traits.
These technologies make it possible to create highly lifelike, and in some cases even interactive, digital copies of the dead. But according to Arif Perdana, a researcher in digital strategy and data science at Monash University in Australia, these digital ghosts aren't just a little creepy; they also raise specific ethical and psychological concerns.
Technology that allows us to interact with and view the likeness of a digital copy of a dead person could ease the grief of losing a loved one. But for some, it could exacerbate the grief rather than ease it. In a paper published by researchers at Cambridge University titled ' Responsible Applications of Generative AI in the Digital Afterlife Industry ,' they point out that digital ghost AI does not meet design safety standards and could cause psychological harm.
Perdana also cited concerns about consent, autonomy, and privacy as major ethical issues. For example, creators can sue for not allowing their writing or drawings to be used to train AI, and deep fakes of celebrities are often used in abusive ways, but in such cases the parties involved can sue for damages. However, the deceased cannot refuse to be trained by AI, so there is the issue of consent to having a digital copy of themselves made.
AI-created fake celebrity ad video has been viewed more than 195 million times on YouTube - GIGAZINE
And even if consent was given, there is a risk of misuse and manipulation of data: digital ghosts could be used by companies to advertise products and services, or altered to convey thoughts and actions that the deceased never dictated.
Perdana points out that 'legal frameworks need to be updated to address concerns about this rapidly growing industry.' Specifically, issues such as who inherits the digital copies of the deceased, which are part of the digital legacy, and whether ownership of the stored digital personality belongs to the company or the family must be addressed. The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) recognizes the right to privacy after death, such as essentially restricting access to the deceased's social media. Perdana says there is still a lot of room for discussion between companies, technologists, academics, and policymakers, such as how far the GDPR should be interpreted and applied, and the need to implement thoughtful regulations and ethical guidelines.
Related Posts:
in Note, Posted by log1e_dh