Streaming outlook
When AI provides comfort: film about grief technology
Diana created a digital doppelganger. In the event of her death, he is supposed to comfort her daughter Ella. photo
© Roman Hauska/ZDF/dpa
Artificial intelligence often accompanies us. Now it is intended to provide support even after the death of a loved one. Can this work? A report about so-called Grief Tech. Now in the ZDF media library.
Elina hasn’t been there for a few months. Two years ago, the young woman was the victim of a violent crime and was never able to cope with the experience. The 17-year-old took her own life in January. Mother Sarah finds it difficult to bear the loss of her young daughter – and therefore ventures into the world of so-called “Grief Tech” in a new episode of the ZDF report series “37 Grad”.
The phenomenon “Grief Tech” describes the use of artificial intelligence (AI) as grief support. Chat with a deceased relative? Create a digital doppelganger for surviving relatives before your own death? This should be possible with grief technology. The documentary will be broadcast on ZDF on October 22nd at 10:15 p.m. and can already be seen in the ZDF media library.
“We’ll hear each other when I’m dead!” accompanies two women who, in their own way, give AI a chance to help them grieve. In addition to 35-year-old Sarah, there is also Diana, who has a small daughter. Through the death of her own father, Diana knows the pain that such a loss can cause. That’s why she creates a “conversational AI” of herself for little Ella – a kind of digital copy of her mother that Ella can talk to one distant day after her mother’s death.
“Why should you say goodbye at all?”
The new episode of the “37 Degrees” series provides touching and intimate insights into an extreme situation in life. Does the AI help you overcome the final farewell or does it simply postpone it? However, the question of whether “Grief Tech” makes sense from a psychological perspective or is counterproductive remains unanswered in this film.
Sarah’s life has been turned upside down since the loss of her daughter. She often listens to old voice messages from Elina. She wants nothing more than to be able to talk to her child again. A chatbot that she feeds with all sorts of information about Elina is intended to at least minimize the overwhelming feeling of sadness. And so a little later Sarah sits sobbing on a bench in the forest and writes to the AI-generated Elina that she misses her. “Remember, I’m always with you. No matter what happens,” the chatbot replies.
Diana, on the other hand, hopes that her own avatar will ensure that her daughter does not have to feel the pain that she once suffered. “To still be able to be a little bit of a mother to my daughter and never be completely away, how nice would that be?” says the single mother. After losing her dad, she was missing videos or photos. Little Ella shouldn’t feel like that. “You never know when you have to leave. But why should you say goodbye at all?”