AI and Life After Death: Griefbots, Digital Ghosts, and the New Afterlife Economy

AI and Life After Death: Griefbots, Digital Ghosts, and the New Afterlife Economy

From The People's AI: The Decentralized AI Podcast by Jeff Wilser

December 17, 2025 · 53 min · Season 3 · Episode 3

About this episode

This episode explores the rise of grief tech and the implications of AI in grieving processes.

Can AI help us grieve, or does it blur the line between comfort and delusion in ways we’re not ready for? In this episode of The People’s AI, we explore the rise of grief tech: “griefbots,” AI avatars, and “digital ghosts” designed to simulate conversations with deceased loved ones. We start with Justin Harrison, founder of You, Only Virtual, whose near-fatal motorcycle accident and his mother’s terminal cancer diagnosis led him to build a “Versona,” a virtual version of a person’s persona. W...

People in this episode

Host: Jeff Wilser

Guest: Justin Harrison

Topics covered

  • grief technology
  • AI avatars
  • digital ghosts
  • afterlife economy
  • conversations with deceased

Keywords

  • griefbots
  • digital ghosts
  • AI in grief
  • virtual persona
  • afterlife technology

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: You, Only Virtual

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