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Microsoft Patents Chatbot That Can Imitate Dead Relatives, Because Life Is Black Mirror Now

Ewan Moore

Published 

Microsoft Patents Chatbot That Can Imitate Dead Relatives, Because Life Is Black Mirror Now

Featured Image Credit: Microsoft/Netflix

Microsoft has filed a patent that for a chatbot that would be able to imitate deceased loved ones using that individual's personal information. Sounds like a completely normal thing to do that definitely couldn't backfire in any way, right?

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As reported by The Independent, the tech behemoth's patent suggests that the company can create an AI-driven chatbot that would be built on a person's digital footprint. Basically, it would scour their "images, voice data, social media posts, electronic messages," and other personal information to come up with a version of that person. The chatbot could then simulate actual conversation through voice command and/or text chats, all while pretending to be a deceased relative. This is literally the plot of an episode of Black Mirror, I'm sure.

Black Mirror / Credit: Netflix
Black Mirror / Credit: Netflix

According to The Independent, Microsoft might even want to take it beyond a simple chatbot. The thinking is that a 2D - or even 3D - model of deceased could be created using "images and depth information, or video data" of an individual.

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"The specific person [who the chat bot represents] may correspond to a past or present entity (or a version thereof), such as a friend, a relative, an acquaintance, a celebrity, a fictional character, a historical figure, a random entity, etc.," the patent explains. "The specific person may also correspond to oneself (e.g., the user creating/training the chat bot."

Okay so I've just double checked. This did happen in a Black Mirror episode. It was called 'Be Right Back', and explored what happened when a grieving woman who'd lost her boyfriend in a car crash used AI to create a version of him based on his digital history. It didn't exactly work out brilliantly there, but who knows how this might go?

While I can say with absolute confidence that the idea of a chatbot like this is not for me, it's important to remember that different people grieve in different ways. If this kind of thing is truly what some people feel they need, and if it can truly help them find some form of closure or comfort, then maybe it's not all bad.

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Of course a patent isn't a guarantee that such technology will ever actually see the light of the day. For now we'll have to wait and see what happens with this one - and make sure we're all stocked up on tinned goods and weapons just in case the AI rises up to kill us all.

Topics: News, Microsoft

Ewan Moore
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