Digital Clones Of Deceased Loved Ones Chat With Mourners At Own Funerals

A startup company called StoryFile has pioneered a new product that allows deceased people to address mourners at their funerals through the power of artificial intelligence.

Known as the ‘digital afterlife’ industry, StoryFile uses 20 cameras while asking a person 250 questions before death. This data is then fed into software that creates a so-called digital clone of that person.

Marina Smith, an 87-year-old woman who passed in June, was given a chance to use StoryFile. Smith’s Los Angeles-based son Stephen is the company’s founder and shocked funeralgoers by creating an interactive illusion of her on a screen during the memorial service:

“Mum answered questions from grieving relatives after they had watched her cremation,” Stephentold The Telegraph.

“The extraordinary thing was that she answered their questions with new details and honesty,” he added. “People feel emboldened when recording their data. Mourners might get a freer, truer version of their lost loved one.”

Earlier this year, a digital copy of former Screen Actors Guild president Ed Asner was made possible at his funeral by StoryFile. Axios reported mourners “conversed” with the holographic representation of Asner. – READ MORE