# Would you object to being kept alive as a virtual "ghost" using AI? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 17, 2025, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-object-to-being-kept-alive-as-a-virtual-ghost-using-ai/1019746 "2025-06-17T06:16:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-object-to-being-kept-alive-as-a-virtual-ghost-using-ai/1019746/81 "2025-06-20T18:50:52Z")
Yes, my answer to “would i want this today?” is, “of course not, a flat chatgpt imitating someone i cared about would be horrible!” Would i want it if the technology improved to the point of feeling a bit like talking to the person? I don’t think so. I think it would be creepy, and also, in some ways I’m a luddite. But at least that could be a question. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-object-to-being-kept-alive-as-a-virtual-ghost-using-ai/1019746/82 "2025-06-20T18:51:30Z")
Right. The current incarnation of AI is not up to the task. But that’s not the point of the discussion. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-object-to-being-kept-alive-as-a-virtual-ghost-using-ai/1019746/83 "2025-06-20T19:12:14Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > But a family interested in creating such a simulacrum could, and would know that the quality of the product would relate to the volume and quality of the data fed in. Yes – I did say it would have the photos if the family had them and gave them to it! But they’d have to have them to do that. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > Would i want it if the technology improved to the point of feeling a bit like talking to the person? I don’t think so. I think it would be creepy Seconded. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-object-to-being-kept-alive-as-a-virtual-ghost-using-ai/1019746/84 "2025-06-20T19:58:04Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > But that’s not the point of the discussion. It’s not? That is, you’re telling the OP it’s not? ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-object-to-being-kept-alive-as-a-virtual-ghost-using-ai/1019746/85 "2025-06-20T21:00:56Z")
No? Agreeing with them that whether or not current AI is up to the task is not the point of the discussion. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-object-to-being-kept-alive-as-a-virtual-ghost-using-ai/1019746/86 "2025-06-20T22:05:50Z")
Within the next 50 years, I can foresee a trend of people deliberately uploading their every thought, desire and random whim, just as they already upload pictures of their breakfast, lunch and so on. They could also film a respectable fraction of their lives, recording all this data on the increasingly cheap databanks we are all connected to. These are the sort of people that will want to create a digital ‘ghost’ of themselves after they die, and to be honest, most people of that sort are some sort of conceited arsehole or other. In a hundred years time we’ll probably be surrounded by the digital ghosts of conceited arseholes. Maybe we could put them to work, caring for old people or babies, or driving taxis. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2025, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-object-to-being-kept-alive-as-a-virtual-ghost-using-ai/1019746/87 "2025-06-20T23:04:10Z")
OK, sorry [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-object-to-being-kept-alive-as-a-virtual-ghost-using-ai/1019746.md?page=4)