A recent study investigates how generative artificial intelligence (AI) is used to bring back the dead as digital avatars in various ways. This includes recreating entertainment icons for shows, political figures as witnesses, and loved ones as companions for those grieving. The research looks at over 50 real cases from places like the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia. It shows that AI resurrections, meaning digital revivals of people's voices, faces, and personalities, are becoming common and emotionally strong but ethically risky. Without clear rules on consent or ownership, this can lead to exploitation where personal data from the dead is reused for profit.
The study, by Tom Divon from Hebrew University and Christian Pentzold from Leipzig University, is published in New Media & Society. It explains that AI does not truly conquer death but blurs lines between life and afterlife. The authors introduce "spectral labor," a term for how the dead's digital remains, such as photos, videos, and posts, are turned into reusable material without permission. This can extend influence or ideology beyond death, like making a political figure speak to new audiences.
Ethical challenges of digital afterlives
The research outlines three main ways AI revives the dead. First, spectacularization recreates famous people for entertainment, like hologram concerts of singers such as Whitney Houston. Second, sociopoliticization animates victims for protests or testimony, using AI to let them share stories after death. Third, mundanization lets everyday people chat with digital versions of family members through apps.
In all cases, the dead seem to "work" for the living's needs, whether emotional, political, or commercial. The authors warn this happens in a postmortal society, where technology tries to overcome death instead of accepting it. They call for urgent rules on who owns digital likenesses and how they can be used, to avoid abuse or manipulation. As AI grows faster, society must address these issues now to protect relationships with the dead and the living. The study urges thinking deeply about what this means for power, memory, and ethics in a tech-driven world.