this is just spooky
Microsoft patents chatbot for ‘talking to dead people’
Artificial Intelligence-powered bots could make it possible for the bereaved to speak to computer-generated versions of their loved ones
Called "Creating a Conversational Chatbot of a Specific Person," the newly filed patent sounds relatively inoffensive. The idea is based on the principle that the more information artificial intelligence is given, the more accurately it can meet our expectations. The patented chatbot would be capable of expressing itself in the manner of a specific person.
But this could theoretically pave the way for “chatting” virtually with someone who is no longer physically present, or someone who is no longer alive.
The scenario is uncannily like the Black Mirror episode, Be Right Back, where a bereaved widow signs up to an AI chat service so that she can speak to an artificially generated version of her lost love.
As in the sci-fi driven episode, Microsoft's chatbot would evolve and become more 'person-like' the more information it is 'fed'. It could also learn to adapt and copy the deceased person’s character to the degree that it becomes capable of speaking convincingly with someone close to that person in a natural way.
https://www.mobile-magazine.com/technology-and-ai-7/microsoft-patents-chatbot-talking-dead-people