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Hologram Technology Allows Woman To Answer Questions At Her Own Funeral

An AI-driven chatbot technology has allowed one woman to answer questions from beyond the grave at her own funeral, with mourners able to dive into her fascinating life in a morbid but futuristic tribute. The technology was provided by her son, who runs a company that creates “holographic conversational video experiences”, and allowed Holocaust campaigner Marina Smith MBE to be “present, in a sense”, according to son Stephen Smith, reports the Telegraph.

Mrs Smith passed away in June of this year and her funeral was held shortly after in Nottinghamshire, UK. Having led a meaningful life educating people about the Holocaust, her family wished for her message to continue after her death, and the holographic experience during her funeral allowed just that.

The experience used StoryFile, an AI conversational bot that uses 20 different cameras and recordings of the subject to create a digital, holographic clone that can be interacted with. While the experience was powered by AI, the answers given to questions were entirely Mrs Smith’s own words.

Death, resurrection and digital immortality in an AI world

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I have been thinking about death lately. Not a lot — a little. Possibly because I recently had a month-long bout of Covid-19. And, I read a recent story about the passing of the actor Ed Asner, famous for his role as Lou Grant in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” More specifically, the story of his memorial service where mourners were invited to “talk” with Asner through an interactive display that featured video and audio that he recorded before he died. The experience was created by StoryFile, a company with the mission to make AI more human. According to the company, their proprietary technology and AI can match pre-recorded answers with future questions, allowing for a real-time yet asynchronous conversation.

In other words, it feels like a Zoom conversation with a living person.

DARPA seeks AI solutions for sourcing critical minerals

DARPA has launched a competition to find AI solutions that can help with sourcing critical minerals.

Critical minerals are raw, non-fuel materials that are vital for manufacturing products that are essential to national security.

DARPA is teaming up with the US Geological Survey (USGS) to explore how machine learning and AI can accelerate critical mineral assessments.

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