The demand for AI tech to preserve, animate, and interact with lost loved ones is especially strong in China, where thousands have already paid to use such tech
Being from Northern Germany, we already have had these for years: We call them “photos” and they are just as talkative as the real deal. 😂 — https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... Rachel Courtland / @rcourt@mastodon.social : At least half a dozen companies in China are now making deepfakes of dead loved ones. — https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... X: Zeyi Yang / @zeyiyang : A tablet that looks like an interactive photo frame, deepfake video calls where the face is swapped with the dead...these are the ways Chinese companies are using deepfake techs to clone people's lost loved ones, hoping to help them to grieve. my latest: https://www.technologyreview.com/ ... Caiwei Chen / @caiweic : It's so interesting how Chinese companies are approaching AI hardware differently than Silicon Valley. Digital frames let you see your deceased loved ones living on screen, like Hogwarts portraits. In China, bringing lost family and friends back to life has become a big business. LinkedIn: Zeyi Yang : A tablet that looks like an interactive photo frame, deepfake video calls where the face is swapped with the dead ... these are the ways Chinese companies …
Context & Ripple Effects
This is a commercialization step beyond the earlier AI services that let users converse with digital versions of deceased people: in China, providers are packaging animated likenesses into consumer hardware and video-call formats.
The reported uptake makes bereavement technology a paid AI category rather than only a demonstration of avatar and voice-cloning capabilities. It also anticipates concerns raised around the ethical and legal implications of “deadbots” as such likenesses are used more widely.
First-order effects
- Chinese families can buy interactive frames, deepfake calls, and related services that animate a deceased relative’s likeness; at least half a dozen local providers are competing for that demand.
- The products turn personal photos, video, and voice material into an ongoing service relationship, extending use beyond static memorial media.
Second-order effects
- Providers of avatar generation, voice cloning, and consumer display hardware gain a concrete distribution channel in bereavement services, while funeral and memorial businesses face pressure to decide whether to offer or distinguish themselves from AI-mediated remembrance.
- As more firms market recreations of deceased people, consent, provenance, and control of a person’s likeness become more immediate product and customer-trust issues rather than abstract AI-policy questions.
Third-order effects
- If adoption persists, digital legacy may become a recurring consumer-AI category in which the value lies in maintaining an interactive persona, not merely producing a one-time memorial.
- The category strengthens the case for AI-companion governance focused on posthumous consent, family authority, and limits on commercial reuse of a deceased person’s identity.
The trend: Generative AI is moving from producing media about people to commercializing persistent, interactive representations of them, including after death.