In 2024, chatbots are part of ordinary life. They pop up on your screen while you’re checking your bank account or making an online purchase.  

But a few years from now it may be just as easy to have a conversation with a chatbot who recreates a dead loved one.  That’s the idea behind a kind of technology called a generative ghost. 

Jed Brubaker is associate professor at the University of Colorado and one of the people leading the development of generative ghosts. Jed is part of a team that recently received $75,000 from Google to study how generative ghosts could become part of our lives.  

In the NoCo’s Brad Turner spoke with Jed about what a visit with the generative ghost of a dead loved one would feel like. 

By the way, Jed also leads the Digital Legacy Clinic – a free clinic at CU to help people who want to get a deceased loved one’s digital affairs in order.

Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!

Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Producer: Ariel Lavery
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.