Microsoft Wants To Resurrect The Dead And Let Them Talk To Their Loved Ones

For most of us, death is the end of everything, but recently, Microsoft proposed something different.

Last month, the company received a patent that outlines the process of building chatbots based on people’s social data. What makes this such big news is Microsoft suggested that the bots could be inspired by dead relatives or friends.

Microsoft will use data like voices, posts on social media, written letters, and electronic messages to train the chatbot to communicate like the deceased person. To make things as real as possible, the bot may appear like the person and uses his or her voice to talk.

According to Faheem Hussain – a professor at Arizona State University’s School for the Future of Innovation in Society, technically, we can recreate anyone from their online data, which begs the question of ethical implications.

So the problem here is some people may gain access to a dead person and recreate a digital version of them even without their consent when they are still alive. And so far, there is no such thing as regulations on post-mortem data in many countries.

At this point, nothing is certain. Patents aren’t always a sure indication of a new invention. In many cases, companies file for a patent to prevent possible competition in the future and secure itself a solid standing on the market when making the AI-based avatar of deceased people become acceptable.

The patent doesn’t even mean Microsoft will ever attempt making anything like this. It might want to sell it to another company that wants to venture into the chatbot field.

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