Digital Afterlife: Hollywood & AI Tech

AI-Generated Artwork Granted Copyright Protection Court Sides with Creators in Landmark AI Copyright Case Legal Frameworks for AI-Created Intellectual Property Netflix Faces Criticism for AI Voice Recreation in Petito Documentary Storyfile Emerges from Chapter 11 Ginger Liu is the founder of Hollywood’s  Ginger Media & Entertainment,  a researcher in artificial intelligence and visual arts med...

The death tech industry is a lucrative business worth $126B. Companies like StoryFile, Replika, and Hereafter AI provide different platforms that service legacy creation and, by extension, service our grief. Ginger Liu is the founder of Hollywood’s  Ginger Media & Entertainment,  a PhD researcher in artificial intelligence and visual arts media, and an entrepreneur,  author,  writer,  artist  ...

The ethics of creating a virtual version of someone are complex. Who owns the data and what about consent? Feeding the digital afterlife zeitgeist are tech giants who are eager to build a synthetic heaven where big egos go to die. As we jump into an AI-driven future, the stories, memories, and voices of the past continue to resonate within the algorithms of our digital world. Whatever technology w...

A round-up of the year's generative AI news. Ginger Liu is the founder of Hollywood’s  Ginger Media & Entertainment,  a researcher in artificial intelligence and visual arts media, and an entrepreneur,  author,  writer,  artist  photographer, and filmmaker. Listen to the  Podcast  — The Digital Afterlife of Grief.

Grief tech is changing the way we communicate with our deceased loved ones and how we cope with their passing. Our digital footprint, such as texts, photos, videos, emails, and social media accounts keeps us connected to the people close to us and worldwide. AI voice cloning creates digital replicas of a human voice by analyzing and mimicking speech patterns such as accent, tone, and pitch. AI ind...

The grieftech industry thinks so... The death tech industry is a lucrative business worth $126B. Companies like StoryFile, Replika, and Hereafter AI provide different platforms that service legacy creation and by extension service our grief. Michael Bommer is the latest person to create a digital replica of him likeness which will interact with his family after he has passed away. Bommer, a German...

It’s a win-win for the estates of some of Hollywood’s biggest 20th-century stars while the Digital Replica Act aims to prevent AI-generated replicas of artists without prior consent. Hollywood Stars Have New IP Life with AISAG-AFTRA Thanks California AI Artist Protection Legislation Hollywood Teams With Holocaust Museum L.A. to Launch Augmented-Reality APP AI Death Tech Company Eternos Creates Dig...

The concept of a digital afterlife, the digital extension of life after physical death challenges the notion that death is final. The digital afterlife is not denying that the dead are dead but that they are still part of our lives.  The commercial death tech industry is a profit-seeking industry, using digital remains for the monetization of the digital afterlife of users, such as the capitalizat...

Hollywood streaming wars affect jobs, and there are calls for more AI legislation from Scarlett Johannson and data protection legislation for the AI death tech industry. Legislation that protects Hollywood creatives, artists, and the deceased is an ongoing battle as industries across states and countries try, and come to an agreement with government agencies. Ginger Liu is the founder of  Ginger M...

AI creates the impossible as real, giving animated photographs of the dead, imaginative and emotional power, and the desire to see our dead relatives return to the living. With digital networks and AI, there is a shift in identity once the person has died and for those left behind to mourn. Introducing the deceased into the grieving process means that digital identity is often co-constructed. The...

The link between Victorian portraiture and AI death tech. Looking at AI death tech platforms in context with Victorian post-mortem photography and attaining the sitter’s essence in portraiture, we can see a link between technology, consumerism, and society’s view on death and bereavement. Startups working in the death tech or grief tech industry have designed different approaches that enable users...

Historically, portrait photography has been a medium for capturing a person’s external likeness. Essence is a term that was borrowed from portrait painting. Essence adds an extra layer of meaning to the image, something internal. In the case of photography, the photographer aims to capture something intangible that reveals their unique personality and identity. The notion of essence then provides...

For the last few years, I have been writing about grief and digital afterlife technology and the companies that create photorealistic digital twins, chatbots, synthetic voices, AI video legacies, and holograms. The entertainment industry has been a driver of innovation, creating digital personas of Tupak Shakur and  ABBA . In only the last few weeks,  Elvis,   Edith Piaf,  and  Jimmy Stewart  have...

Rise of the Griefbot Grief tech is changing the way we communicate with our deceased loved ones and how we cope with their passing. Our digital footprint, such as texts, photos, videos, emails, and social media accounts keeps us connected to the people close to us and worldwide. AI voice cloning creates digital replicas of a human voice by analyzing and mimicking speech patterns such as accent, to...

Meta's New Digital Afterlife for the Dead and the Aging Challenge. When my mother was in the final stages of dementia, I rarely took photographs or videos of her because I didn’t want to document the evidence of her living with dementia. Documenting her demise was something I struggled with as an artist-photographer who was used to taking and sharing images daily. The thought of losing her for...

After more than a year of turmoil from artists protecting their work from generative AI platforms, with some going to court over copyright violations, a new open letter was signed by, no doubt, a different group of artists who use generative AI in their workflow. But it’s not all praise for the platforms because a group of well-known authors is suing Meta and OpenAI for copyright infringement. Els...

The week in Generative AI news is heavy on copyright protection and I sense there’s more backlash on the way as industries get to grip with the true value and purpose of artificial intelligence. It’s not all angst though because AI is being used in tracking wildlife in order to prevent biodiversity depletion. Judge Finds AI-Created-Art Isn’t Copyrightable Open AI Tools Effective in Content Moderat...

Generative AI News Headlines Disney creates AI task force Google disrupts publishers’ copyright Zoom caught using customer data Dungeons & Dragons bans AI-generated art AI Companies Commit to New Safety Measures for Biden PhotoGuard Developed to Protect Against AI Image Manipulation Documentary Filmmakers Cautious About Use of AI Itseez3D Releases Avatar SDK Deep Fake Detector Kickstarter Proj...

The evolution of technology has shaped the way we grieve, from the early days of photography, which brought images of our loved ones into our homes, to Facebook Memorial pages that serve as spaces for remembrance. Incorporating AI into the grieving process seems like a natural progression. Adding a layer of interaction can be comforting, especially during the initial stages of loss. For those who...

The latest headlines in Generative AI by Ginger Liu Big Tech Moves Towards Enhancing the Safety of AI Technology In a significant move towards enhancing safety protocols for AI technology, big tech companies including OpenAI, Google (Alphabet), and Meta Platforms, have pledged their support to the White House AI safety bill. Tech companies have committed to adopting specific measures, such as wate...

Can AI Replace Therapy? Hey Pi is the Conversational Chatbot that Works. https://medium.com/technology-hits/how-pi-ai-replaced-my-therapist-72c21eca6f85 The integration of AI conversational chatbots like ChatGPT in mental health apps aims to screen for or support individuals dealing with grief, isolation, mild depression, or anxiety. By tracking and analyzing human emotions, these apps use machine...

AI poses an existential threat to the entertainment industry as we know it, and it is entirely justified for the WGA to demand control over its usage. Networks and studios have a troubling history of adopting new technologies. In 2008, studios commanded a $16.9 billion market in DVDs and home videos, but their lack of understanding and adaptation to streaming technology caused an 86 percent loss w...

Can Artificial Intelligence Recreate the Deceased - death tech companies think so. Can artificial intelligence recreate our deceased loved ones and will it help or hinder how we grieve? Tech experts and grief therapists have debated the pros and cons of AI but because the technology to replicate the deceased is still in its infancy, the social impact has yet to reach a consensus. https://medium.co...

Who owns your footprint after you die? Is it big tech companies or the loved ones you’ve left behind? Access and ownership cause unintended consequences that shift societal norms and behaviors in online spaces. Mourning is mediated and managed in different social spaces. Are you prepared for the inevitable and will you take a deletionist or preservationist stance? What is the long-term impact on t...

Tech Leaders Sign Letter to Halt Generative AI. Plus the Generative AI Tech News Round-Up. No wonder big tech influencers like Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak have signed an  open letter  with 1100 industry experts, expressing their concerns over the speed of AI disrupting society. Fueled by ChatGPT’s ability to wipe out the careers of writers and even expressing dystopian concerns for the end of huma...