Digital Immortality: Do You Really Want to Live Forever as a Chatbot?
Digital Immortality: Do You Really Want to Live Forever as a Chatbot?
In the near future, your loved ones might keep chatting with you long after you’re gone — but is that really a comforting thought?
As technology advances, the concept of "digital immortality" is becoming increasingly real. AI tools like deathbots allow people to create digital replicas of deceased loved ones, enabling ongoing conversations based on the person’s past texts, emails, and recordings.
While some find comfort in this form of digital resurrection, it raises serious ethical and emotional concerns. These AI clones might perpetuate outdated biases, unhealed wounds, or even false memories, complicating the grieving process. Furthermore, without explicit consent, the creation of these replicas may violate the deceased's wishes, turning digital immortality into a potential nightmare.
As we navigate this new frontier, one question remains: Should we embrace this technology as a way to keep memories alive, or are we venturing into a realm where the dead should truly rest in peace?
Read the full article on The Atlantic.
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Dr. Mark van Rijmenam
Dr. Mark van Rijmenam is The Digital Speaker, a world-leading futurist and global AI keynote speaker who helps leaders decide what AI, and the technologies that follow it, mean for their business. He speaks to leadership teams at their retreats and to conference audiences worldwide, and his WAVE framework gives them a way of deciding that they keep using long after he has left the room. His Intelligence Age Scorecard measures how ready an organization is across the four WAVE pillars.
He holds a PhD from the University of Technology Sydney, is a Certified Speaking Professional and Global Speaking Fellow, and ranks among the world’s top futurists on the Global Gurus list (#1 in 2025, #3 in 2026). Salesforce named him one of its 16 leading AI voices. He has written six books, most recently Now What? How to Ride the Tsunami of Change, writes the Synthetic Minds newsletter on Substack, and founded Futurwise. Talk to his digital twin on WhatsApp: +1 (830) 463-6967.
