People are using AI chatbots to bring dead people 'back to life'

The rise of artificial intelligence is quite a daunting one for a lot of people, thought its rise will certainly provide a lot more possibilities that were not previously on the cards.

While AI can delve into what the 'average person' looks like for each job or what the 'ideal boyfriend' looks like in each US state, its rise is certainly providing some more surprising possibilities.

A growing number of people are now testing out AI to see if it can bring deceased relatives and friends 'back to life'.

One of those is inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil, who is using AI to recreate some of his lost relatives.

In particular, Kurzweil is attempting to 'bring back' his father, who died when the inventor was just 22 years old.

His attempts began more than ten years ago, with those efforts told in a comic book by Kurzwei's daughter Amy.

So, how exactly has Kurzweil gone about creating a 'replicant' of his father?

Well, it all started by feeding an AI system with his father's letters, essays and musical compositions.

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However, his plans don't stop there as he hopes to one day bring his father back to life using nanotechnology and DNA from his dad's buried bones.

But for now, Kurzweil has to deal with just the 'dad bot' - though this is someone or perhaps something the inventor can have a conversation with.

Speaking to the Rolling Stone earlier this year, Kurzweil said: "I actually had a conversation with him, which felt a lot like talking to him.

He went on to say that he believes some form of a 'dad bot' will be released to a larger demographic in the future, which would certainly turn a lot of people's world upside down.

That is because it could potentially enable everyone to stay in touch with their deceased relatives, if they wanted to so of course.

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By 2045, Kurzweil reckons people will be able to connect their brains to machines, while he has even more ambitious plans for his father at that point.

In what would really make history, he thinks nanomachines could physically resurrect his father.

Kurzweil explained: "We can find some of his DNA around his grave site - that's a lot of information right there.

"The AI will send down some nanobots, get some bone or teeth, extract some DNA, and put it all together. Then they'll get some information from my brain and anyone else who still remembers him."

Mind-boggling stuff, right?

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