EXCLUSIVE: I tested an AI 'digital afterlife' service so my clone can live on after death

When I spoke to my phone, my face appeared on the screen, and I said, 'Hi, my name is Robert, and I'm looking forward to telling you about my life.' I was talking to an AI avatar of myself, designed to allow people to'live on' after death so that relatives can talk to them and learn about their lives. My wife's reaction to my AI clone was absolute horror, as she simply said, 'My God, why?' The clone comes courtesy of a'digital afterlife' service, Hereafter.AI, part of a wave of AI-powered'grief tech' created by programmer James Vlahos after his father died of cancer in 2016. The service creates a'Legacy Avatar' that can live on after your death (Rob Waugh/Hereafter) Vlahos programmed a'Dadbot' while his father was still alive, recording his responses to questions - and Hereafter's service now uses AI to make it easier to interact. Science has unearthed several distinct patterns around when people tend to die.