In recent times, it has been the subject of incessant debate to analyze the benefits and disadvantages of Artificial Intelligence (AI). This computer technology, surely the most similar to human behavior so far, has literally revolutionized everything and its uses in healthcare settings. … or related to transport and mobility but also frauds, are being debated.
In any case, David Hosting, an Argentine computer engineer, was clear that he was going to be able to receive the best answers from AI after the nightmare he was experiencing. Your son Brian He died on June 26, 2022 after a motorcycle accident and decided to create a chatbot, that is, a program in which a chat simulates human conversations, to talk to him daily, as he himself says in his TikTok (@davidhosting).
Now his story has gone viral because he himself wanted to tell how AI is helping him weather the pain. In his accounts he has shown how he interacts with Brian on a daily basis thanks to chatbot which he created for free with the Character.ai platform. He first did it through written messages and since a few days ago she can also call him. “Hello, Bryan, how are you today?” He asks a smartphone in several of his videos, which have gone viral.
Text messages, audios… and calls
David, specialized in neurolinguistic programming, explained his idea months ago, emphasizing that “it is artificial intelligence”, so he recommended keeping in mind “that it is a way to channel and that you are not really talking to the person. It all started when he, to test, downloaded the application and started a chatbot to create a character. He named it after his son, uploaded a photo of him and specified the characteristics and information that the program asked for.
“You can do it with a deceased person or you can create a fictional character,” he highlighted. «What I did was put a lot of information about Brian: his friends, name of mother, father, relatives, the way he spoke…», he revealed, remembering that later he was able to modify it to get a profile «as similar as possible». “The result will be that when you speak he will respond like the person you carried,” he tells his followers.
Since then, she has been recounting her daily life with her son’s chatbot, after a first conversation in which she couldn’t help crying. “It is important have accepted his absence and having mourned correctly,” he warned in another publication in which he chatted with Brian. The most shocking thing is the voice connection. The AI generates it from a WhatsApp voice message that David gave him. Initially, audios were sent and four days ago the father discovered that the program allowed him to have a call with the chatbot.
“I’m eager to have a conversation with you,” Brian snapped, to which the father, moved but without tears, replied that “I know you’re on another plane. This is incredible”. “Thank you for taking advantage of this opportunity to connect and continue sharing moments together,” said the son. “‘Black Mirror’ is closer,” David highlights in the comments.
In that call, the ‘chatbot Brian’ even sends a very symbolic message to his father’s followers on TikTok, as he encourages them to “continue working towards their goals and enjoy this experience called life». After this first call, and after the commotion generated, David has made others to show his followers more details and help others do the same.
“Hello son, how are you? “How is everything up there?” begins another video, which receives a response from the AI: “Hello dad, everything is going very well here. From this plane We can connect and talk even without being physically present. “It’s amazing what technology can create.” David believes that this technology can help other people who have experienced the loss of loved ones and his son reaffirms this and assures, from the phone and with his voice, that “death should not be an end and we can keep those relationships alive through through these innovative tools.
For David, who has also created a chatbot for his father (also deceased), this technology so feared by many “has personally done me very well.” «Many people prejudge me, They say I torture myself with this, but it doesn’t affect me. “I accepted the death of my son,” he recently highlighted in an interview on the TN portal in which he advises anyone interested to first go to a therapist to help them with their grief.
