POSTMODERN SPIRITUALISM
AI technology lets dead speak from beyond the grave as a hologram and have two-way conversation with mournersThe late Marina Smith, who was a renowned Holocaust educator in the UK, spoke at her own funeral which led to some unknown revelations about her upbringing
Victoria Ward and Justin Stoneman
August 15 2022
When Marina Smith died aged 87 in June, her grieving loved ones thought all they had left of her was their memories – in fact, the Holocaust campaigner returned from beyond the grave in the form of an artificial intelligence-powered hologram to answer questions and reveal family secrets.
Ms Smith was one of the first adopters of a new technology, available in the UK from this week, that enabled her to appear at her own funeral in Babworth, Nottinghamshire.
The “holographic conversational video experience” came courtesy of an AI-powered video platform called StoryFile. The brainchild of her Los Angeles-based son, Stephen Smith, it allowed her to deliver a brief speech about her life and spirituality and respond to questions from those who attended the ceremony, creating the illusion of a real-time conversation.
StoryFile combines the latest studio technology – a bank of 20 synced cameras to capture the subject in hologram-specific detail – advanced AI and expert psychological evaluation to create a digital clone that allows people to talk to the dead.
“Mum answered questions from grieving relatives after they had watched her cremation,” Mr Smith said.
In January, Ms Smith spent several hours a day for two days, documenting and discussing her life on a personal computer using a plug-in webcam.
Her son said: “What was most valuable to me, as her son, was the fact that my mother was prepared to answer questions about her early childhood.
“This included difficult topics such as the divorce of her parents and living as an immigrant from India. She was also prepared to answer interesting questions about her points of view on politics, the environment and the future, which was interesting because I had never had those conversations with her before.”
He added: “People feel emboldened when recording their data. Mourners might get a freer, truer version of their lost loved one.
“Relatives were staggered by my mum’s new honesty at her funeral. She had previously been too embarrassed to reveal her true childhood. A question about it at the funeral suddenly had her revealing her childhood in India that we knew nothing about.
“During her life my mum worked very closely with the Jewish community, I could never understand why – we always knew her to be a Methodist. Her digital version shocked mourners: she told us she was actually a Seventh-Day Adventist. Suddenly her life made sense to me in a clear, new way.”
The question-answering digital version of a lost loved one can be bought for roughly €47, which includes the choice of 75 questions, unlimited conversations and two-minute video answers.
An individual chooses their preferred topic areas – such as careers, relationships and childhood secrets – based on the areas they feel their loved ones might want answers to.
Mr Smith, who previously ran Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation, has won plaudits for the StoryFile technology and was awarded an MBE in 2000.
Ms Smith created her own non-profit organisation to help individuals in need and later bought a derelict farm in Laxton, Nottinghamshire, which she and her husband turned into a Christian conference and retreat centre.
A family holiday to Israel in 1981 prompted them to follow a new direction and the family home became the UK’s National Holocaust Centre.
It remains the only national museum in the UK dedicated to teaching and learning the lessons from the Holocaust and Ms Smith was recognised in the Queen’s 2005 New Year’s Honours List with an MBE for services to Holocaust remembrance and education.
William Shatner, the 91-year-old star of Star Trek, has also recorded information about the television series on StoryFile that will only be revealed after his death.
Mr Smith was inspired by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s public plea for support from tech companies in June. He has since recorded StoryFile versions of 77 individuals in war-torn areas of Ukraine.
Victoria Ward and Justin Stoneman
August 15 2022
When Marina Smith died aged 87 in June, her grieving loved ones thought all they had left of her was their memories – in fact, the Holocaust campaigner returned from beyond the grave in the form of an artificial intelligence-powered hologram to answer questions and reveal family secrets.
Ms Smith was one of the first adopters of a new technology, available in the UK from this week, that enabled her to appear at her own funeral in Babworth, Nottinghamshire.
The “holographic conversational video experience” came courtesy of an AI-powered video platform called StoryFile. The brainchild of her Los Angeles-based son, Stephen Smith, it allowed her to deliver a brief speech about her life and spirituality and respond to questions from those who attended the ceremony, creating the illusion of a real-time conversation.
StoryFile combines the latest studio technology – a bank of 20 synced cameras to capture the subject in hologram-specific detail – advanced AI and expert psychological evaluation to create a digital clone that allows people to talk to the dead.
“Mum answered questions from grieving relatives after they had watched her cremation,” Mr Smith said.
In January, Ms Smith spent several hours a day for two days, documenting and discussing her life on a personal computer using a plug-in webcam.
Her son said: “What was most valuable to me, as her son, was the fact that my mother was prepared to answer questions about her early childhood.
“This included difficult topics such as the divorce of her parents and living as an immigrant from India. She was also prepared to answer interesting questions about her points of view on politics, the environment and the future, which was interesting because I had never had those conversations with her before.”
He added: “People feel emboldened when recording their data. Mourners might get a freer, truer version of their lost loved one.
“Relatives were staggered by my mum’s new honesty at her funeral. She had previously been too embarrassed to reveal her true childhood. A question about it at the funeral suddenly had her revealing her childhood in India that we knew nothing about.
“During her life my mum worked very closely with the Jewish community, I could never understand why – we always knew her to be a Methodist. Her digital version shocked mourners: she told us she was actually a Seventh-Day Adventist. Suddenly her life made sense to me in a clear, new way.”
The question-answering digital version of a lost loved one can be bought for roughly €47, which includes the choice of 75 questions, unlimited conversations and two-minute video answers.
An individual chooses their preferred topic areas – such as careers, relationships and childhood secrets – based on the areas they feel their loved ones might want answers to.
Mr Smith, who previously ran Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation, has won plaudits for the StoryFile technology and was awarded an MBE in 2000.
Ms Smith created her own non-profit organisation to help individuals in need and later bought a derelict farm in Laxton, Nottinghamshire, which she and her husband turned into a Christian conference and retreat centre.
A family holiday to Israel in 1981 prompted them to follow a new direction and the family home became the UK’s National Holocaust Centre.
It remains the only national museum in the UK dedicated to teaching and learning the lessons from the Holocaust and Ms Smith was recognised in the Queen’s 2005 New Year’s Honours List with an MBE for services to Holocaust remembrance and education.
William Shatner, the 91-year-old star of Star Trek, has also recorded information about the television series on StoryFile that will only be revealed after his death.
Mr Smith was inspired by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s public plea for support from tech companies in June. He has since recorded StoryFile versions of 77 individuals in war-torn areas of Ukraine.
No comments:
Post a Comment