In 2016, the North American James Vlahos He was at a crucial moment in his life. His father, John James Vlahos, had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. For James, this diagnosis was a devastating blow, a reminder of how fleeting life can be. John was a central figure to him: a man who had been a lawyer, a sports announcer, and a singer in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. Despite the anguish of the situation, review CBSdecided to take advantage of the time she had left with him in a very special way.
James set out to carry out a personal project: a oral history. For weeks, he recorded long interviews with his father, in which he told him anecdotes about his life, family memories and his life experience. Through this, he was able to capture his father’s essence in a way that, he thought, would allow him to keep him present even when he was no longer physically with him. But as he worked on it, he began to explore a new field: artificial intelligence. Although the idea of AI preserving the memory of the deceased still seemed like something out of science fiction, he began to think he could take it a step further and do something innovative with recordings.
Then, he thought about creating a digital version of his father: a chatbot that he could interact with people as he would, using the voice recordings and memories collected in his interviews. He would be able to answer questions about his father’s life in a way that made the experience of interacting with him as close to having him back as possible.
In 2017, After his father’s death, James carried out his project: he created an artificially intelligent chatbot that allowed users to ask questions about his father’s life and receive answers in the voice of John James Vlahos. This chatbot, which he called Dadbotbecame an interactive way to preserve his memory. Although it couldn’t replace her father’s physical presence, it provided something invaluable: a digital comfort, a way to continue conversing with him through her memories.
According to detailed to CBCthe creation of Dadbot It was not a simple process, and in many ways, interacting with the AI allowed him to deal with the pain of loss. Although the idea of creating a digital replica of a loved one might seem disconcerting or disturbing to some, for James, creating this chatbot came as a personal need. Through this project, he began to understand what he himself defined as the “digital legacy” of human beings.
When James began sharing his project on social media and writing about his experience, he realized that other people also wanted something similar. He received numerous requests from people who wanted to create their own chatbots based on the lives of their loved ones, whether parents, children or friends. Requests came from all over the world, and he began to realize that there was a potential market for what he had created, although it was not just a product: it was a deeply human and emotional experience.
In 2019, he decided to expand his idea and founded HereAftera company whose goal is to offer people the ability to create interactive “bots” of their loved ones, not just parents, but also siblings, friends, and even pets.
The chatbot created by HereAfter It is capable of answering questions in text and allows users to interact in more complex ways. The company incorporated technological advances that allow chatbots to reproduce the voice, gestures and physical appearance of the person through digitally generated visual avatars.
As technology improves and more people are drawn to the ability to keep memories of their loved ones alive, James’ business continues to grow. The experiences of people who interact with your bots are not univocal; Some feel a deep connection with the memory of their family members, while others experience a disconcerting sense of unreality when talking to a machine that simulates someone they loved.
