Posthumous AI Avatars Shift From Memorial Tools To Revenue Generators (npr.org)
- Reference: 0178892036
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/25/08/27/094233/posthumous-ai-avatars-shift-from-memorial-tools-to-revenue-generators
- Source link: https://www.npr.org/2025/08/26/nx-s1-5508355/ai-dead-people-chatbots-videos-parkland-court
StoryFile CEO Alex Quinn confirmed his company is exploring methods to monetize interactions between users and deceased relatives' digital replicas, including probing for consumer information during conversations. The technology has already demonstrated persuasive capabilities in legal proceedings, where an AI recreation of road rage victim Chris Pelkey delivered testimony that contributed to a maximum sentence. Current implementations operate through subscription models, though no federal regulations govern commercial applications of posthumous AI representations despite state-level protections for deceased individuals' likeness rights.
[1] https://www.npr.org/2025/08/26/nx-s1-5508355/ai-dead-people-chatbots-videos-parkland-court
monetize vs. polyp (Score:2)
Polyp used to be my least favorite word. I would read or hear it, and it would make me feel just gross.
I think monetize, however, is now my least favorite word.
Holy ever loving shit. (Score:5, Insightful)
> StoryFile CEO Alex Quinn confirmed his company is exploring methods to monetize interactions between users and deceased relatives' digital replicas, including probing for consumer information during conversations.
What the god damned fuck? Seriously? Using avatars of dead relatives to probe people for monetization potential? Are you fucking serious? Like spinning up replicas of dead relatives isn't creepy enough on the surface, now they're going to use them to pump people for "consumer information." And even worse, they're proud enough of the idea to be talking openly about it as if were some great advance, some boast-able achievement for all of humanity.
We've lost the fucking thread. Cancel us as a species. We don't deserve to exist anymore.
Re: (Score:1)
Dumbass, have you ever paid [1]any attention [mashable.com] to the gay-ass silicon valley startups out there?
P.S. the link I provided isn't great, but google sucks ass for results anymore. There used to be some great compilations of startup concept FAILs, but some dipshit vulture capitalists undoubtedly had google bury them.
[1] https://mashable.com/article/8-ridiculous-startups-you-didnt-ask-for
Re: (Score:2)
> Dumbass, have you ever paid [1]any attention [mashable.com] to the gay-ass silicon valley startups out there? P.S. the link I provided isn't great, but google sucks ass for results anymore. There used to be some great compilations of startup concept FAILs, but some dipshit vulture capitalists undoubtedly had google bury them.
No venture capitalist needed to tell Google to do anything. They're happily destroying their search results all on their own.
[1] https://mashable.com/article/8-ridiculous-startups-you-didnt-ask-for
Yet another real-life Black Mirror episode... (Score:2)
AI companies have to be just drooling over some of the things in Black Mirror at this point. This was basically the whole plot of Be Right Back in season 2.
[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Be_Right_Back
Re: (Score:2)
There is always those that think stories describing immoral and despicable behaviors are actually a nice inspiration for things to do. Too many of those people and to few limits, and a society goes to shit. This effect is amplified by those that do not care but want to push their own deranged ideas, usually from the religious spectrum.
Eww (Score:5, Insightful)
This is genuinely sick. These people have no shame, and are in the same class as fake mediums who hold "seances" to con grieving survivors out of money.
Re: (Score:2)
That is a great analogy, think I'm going to steal it. Thanks!
Re: (Score:2)
Unfettered / low-fettered capitalism is an invitation to scammers of all sorts, many of them operating completely immorally, but legally.
next up Musk willl get them to have inheritence (Score:2)
rights - until the cryo freezing or cloning works instead,
Nice! (Score:2)
So, I could use my dead peepaw to work in a helpline sweatshop?
And the story continues (Score:4, Insightful)
A technology is invented
Good people use it for good, evil people use it for evil
Smart people use it to increase knowledge, stupid people use it for stupid fads
I see great potential for AI in science, engineering, medicine, etc
Unfortunately, the moroons will misuse it spectacularly
Rinse, repeat
Please send the big asteroid... (Score:2)
...its time now.
Frontier? (Score:2)
This is the "next frontier"? Give me a break. It's just the next grift by some huckster who wants to get those sweet, sweet VC dollars. I wish someone would do the "editing" when posting and call a spade a spade.
All of this is just a total clown show where big corps are spending hundreds of billions of dollars on the off chance they can become the next Google, and these small companies are just leeching off them. It's like scam software/affiliate networks from the 2000s.
Spoiler alert: if you want to be the
The raping and pillaging (Score:2)
knows no limit.
Re: (Score:1)
Yeah, it's like necrophilia. You're dead, so what does it matter if we fuck your corpse? Your rotting flesh has no rights.
A few weeks ago, some cuck like (((Anderson Cooper))) "interviewed" an AI-generated video of some murdered kid. The network paid off the kid's parents to do some anti-gun trope that the kid would never have said. It was kind of like Cartman using Kyle's dead grandmother as a puppet.
Re: (Score:2)
It never did with these people. Decent people do not rape or pillage in the first place. But decent people are rare.