Did you ever imagine being able to talk to your dead relatives? A deadly AI app for Android makes it possible, but…
Saying goodbye to a deceased family member is pretty hard. Sometimes you might still want to say or ask something you never did. With a new app for Android, you can.
Whether you want to, however, is the question. In fact, it has caused such negative reactions that the app has been removed from some Play Stores. What exactly is going on with an app that could have come right out of Black Mirror?
The Android app designed to bring the dead back to life
The Android app called Vera AI caused a stir, reports Futurism. This was mainly because of the marketing campaign the app’s creators had run. It was told that you could re-create someone you miss and keep talking about topics without boundaries.
A screenshot from the marketing campaign shows one Granma Ellie asking a user how his father is doing. So it looks like a grandchild is apping with his deceased grandmother, when in reality it is an AI chatbot.
(Image: Unsplash)
Well if this really works as well as promised, it might help as a means of comfort or teaching people how to cope with loss. However, if it does not work well, as is the case with the Vera AI, it is a vulgar way to make money off people who are already struggling.
Consequently, there is a lot of criticism on social media about this app, because it simply cannot know everything about your deceased family. So it is then just a generic AI that asks and answers questions to you, only in a different guise.
AI and dead people on your iPhone or Android
Still, there are several apps that let you talk to deceased people. One is History Hello, but this one works a little differently. In this app, you can talk to famous deceased historical characters to learn more about them.
The purpose of this Android and iPhone app is quite different. It should let students and other interested people know more about history in an educational way. That, unlike Vera AI, seems to work well. As such, it is not trying to make money from anyone’s grief.
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Still, both Android apps show that talking to deceased people is possible in some way, but that execution is really very important. It just shows again what is possible with generic AI. So that’s more than answering generic questions.
