Can AI Let You Live Forever? Digital Avatars Offer a Strange New Afterlife

Artificial intelligence may soon offer a way to "live on" after death. A growing number of people are open to the idea of becoming a digital avatar after they pass away. "Basically, you can use ChatGPT to reproduce yourself," says Carl Öhman, a researcher at Uppsala University. The concept is simple: by feeding an AI system with a person's writings, voice recordings, and memories, the technology can create a digital version that mimics their personality and speech. This avatar could then interact with loved ones, answering questions or sharing stories long after the real person is gone. While the idea sounds like science fiction, experts say the technology is already within reach. The key challenge, they add, is not technical but ethical—deciding how such avatars should be used and who controls them after death.