If people do not learn how to use artificial intelligence (AI) tools, you will be among the first to be left out of the future world.
In 2021, the daughter of Tino Bao, a famous musician from Taiwan, passed away from bone marrow failure at the age of 22. Bao dedicated himself to “reviving” his daughter through AI by recreating her image and voice for conversations.
In March, after thousands of trials and failures, Bao posted a video on social media where he spoke with his late daughter to wish his wife a happy birthday, even singing a birthday song for her.
His daughter was recreated by AI to sing, dance, and converse with Bao through a mobile phone.
In the future, our interaction with AI is unavoidable due to the rapidly increasing number of tools it creates (Illustration: Photo: Pixel Garrely).
“My motivation is to use technology to recreate the ‘incomplete’ life of my daughter. Before, during the process of inputting voice data, videos, and photos of her, I discovered that I had very little data about her.
The process of using AI to recreate my daughter has been a ‘healing’ journey for me. Although I had to endure thousands of failures because my daughter’s voice data did not match reality.
I believe using the term ‘revive’ is a mistake; a person cannot be ‘revived’ after death. I am simply recreating all the data about my daughter’s life into a symbolic machine to soothe my soul“, Bao stated.
According to Bao, the biggest challenge was that his daughter’s voice could not match reality, and he had to adjust it as closely as possible.
This father incorporated his daughter’s digital voice into a smart assistant on his phone.
His connection with the “digital child” sparked debate on the Chinese social media platform, Sina Weibo.
On this popular app in China, he faced mixed opinions regarding the use of artificial intelligence to replace his daughter in an effort to escape his grief.
Some users expressed concern that this “virtual daughter” would only exacerbate Bao’s pain, preventing him from moving on from the loss of his loved one.
However, the musician indicated that this process helped him learn to accept his grief rationally.
“Watching videos (footage) of her when she was alive brought more sadness than joy. I recreated her with AI to make her look beautiful, so she could happily sing and talk with me. AI allows me to interact with my daughter in the same space and time, providing me with much comfort.
Talking to my virtual daughter through AI is not comparable to the image of my daughter when she was alive. However, in the tech world, she remains forever young and beautiful, which compensates for my regrets about her short life.”, Bao explained.
He also criticized those who use AI to create digital versions of people for illegal purposes or without the consent of the deceased’s family.
A member of the National Assembly and director of Gui Da Law Firm (Guizhou Province, southwest China) stated that we need to change our approach to managing life in a more open and comprehensive way with this AI technology.
“It is encouraging that people experiment with technological advancements to address pain and loss, but we need to strengthen legal regulations if this new technology develops into an industry.”
In the future, Bao mentioned that he plans to engage in charitable activities to reassure people that AI itself is not scary or inherently flawed; the issue lies in the misuse of AI by humans.
“I want to promote this technology to those seeking psychological comfort, encouraging others to approach it with a positive mindset. We can coexist peacefully with both pain and AI. In the future, AI technology will continue to expand and evolve”, he added.
