Academic Article (21)
Find narratives by ethical themes or by technologies.
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- 10 min
- Computers in Human Behavior
- 2021
The authors propose cyberthanatology as a framework to understand how digital technologies mediate experiences of death and mourning. They argue that online platforms have transformed traditional practices by enabling new forms of memorialization, such as virtual cemeteries and online grief communities. The paper emphasizes that these digital practices are not merely extensions of physical rituals but constitute new cultural forms that influence how societies perceive and cope with death.
- Computers in Human Behavior
- 2021
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- 10 min
- Computers in Human Behavior
- 2021
Cyberthanathology: Death and beyond in the digital age.
The authors propose cyberthanatology as a framework to understand how digital technologies mediate experiences of death and mourning. They argue that online platforms have transformed traditional practices by enabling new forms of memorialization, such as virtual cemeteries and online grief communities. The paper emphasizes that these digital practices are not merely extensions of physical rituals but constitute new cultural forms that influence how societies perceive and cope with death.
- What is cyberthanatology, and how does it differ from traditional thanatology?
- How can regulations address the challenges posed by digital inequality in memorialization practices?
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- 90 min
- Minds and Machines
- 2017
Öhman and Floridi introduce the concept of the Digital Afterlife Industry (DAI), encompassing businesses and platforms that manage, monetize, or manipulate the digital remains of deceased individuals. This includes services like memorial pages, AI-generated avatars, and posthumous social media management.
The authors argue that the DAI operates within a framework of informational capitalism, where personal data, even after death, is commodified. They highlight ethical concerns about how these practices can infringe upon human dignity, especially when the deceased’s digital presence is altered or used without consent.
To address these issues, the paper suggests that ethical guidelines governing the treatment of physical human remains could serve as a model for regulating digital remains, ensuring respect and dignity for the deceased in the digital realm.
- Minds and Machines
- 2017
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- 90 min
- Minds and Machines
- 2017
The Political Economy of Death in the Age of Information: A Critical Approach to the Digital Afterlife Industry
Öhman and Floridi introduce the concept of the Digital Afterlife Industry (DAI), encompassing businesses and platforms that manage, monetize, or manipulate the digital remains of deceased individuals. This includes services like memorial pages, AI-generated avatars, and posthumous social media management.
The authors argue that the DAI operates within a framework of informational capitalism, where personal data, even after death, is commodified. They highlight ethical concerns about how these practices can infringe upon human dignity, especially when the deceased’s digital presence is altered or used without consent.
To address these issues, the paper suggests that ethical guidelines governing the treatment of physical human remains could serve as a model for regulating digital remains, ensuring respect and dignity for the deceased in the digital realm.
- Discussion about monetization after death. (Kafka)
- What responsibilities do tech companies have in preserving or deleting digital content after a user’s death?
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- 35 min
- Submitted to AIES '25
Critically examines emerging technologies that enable digital immortality—the preservation and simulated interaction with the dead through AI-generated chatbots, deepfakes, or virtual avatars using personal data. The paper argues that these technologies represent a form of techno-solutionism, providing artificial remedies for the complex human experience of grief. The authors warn that digital immortality platforms—marketed by startups like HereAfter AI, Eter9, and others—pose psychological, ethical, legal, and environmental risks, especially to vulnerable grieving individuals.
- Submitted to AIES '25
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- 35 min
- Submitted to AIES '25
Wanted Dead or Alive
Critically examines emerging technologies that enable digital immortality—the preservation and simulated interaction with the dead through AI-generated chatbots, deepfakes, or virtual avatars using personal data. The paper argues that these technologies represent a form of techno-solutionism, providing artificial remedies for the complex human experience of grief. The authors warn that digital immortality platforms—marketed by startups like HereAfter AI, Eter9, and others—pose psychological, ethical, legal, and environmental risks, especially to vulnerable grieving individuals.
- What is digital immortality, and how does it differ from other concepts like transhumanism or consciousness uploading?
- Why do the authors argue that digital immortality platforms are a form of social media? Do you agree with this classification?
- How does the paper define and critique “techno-solutionism”?
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- 60 min
- Association for Computing Machinary
- 2023
A qualitative study was conducted with 10 participants who use griefbots to cope with loss after the death of a loved one. Interviews were about an hour long each, and the results are compiled in a readable table.
- Association for Computing Machinary
- 2023
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- 60 min
- Association for Computing Machinary
- 2023
The “Conversation” about Loss: Understanding How Chatbot Technology was Used in Supporting People in Grief.
A qualitative study was conducted with 10 participants who use griefbots to cope with loss after the death of a loved one. Interviews were about an hour long each, and the results are compiled in a readable table.
- What other questions could the researchers have asked the users?
- Do you think this service is something you might use? What information would you want in a griefbot about a loved one?
- What are the ways in which a bad actor could use this service in harmful ways?
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- 50 min
- Science and Engineering Ethics
- 2022
Lindemann identifies grief bots as techno-social niches that change the affective emotional state of the user. With a focus on the dignity of the bereaved rather than the deceased, Lindemann argues that grief bots can both regulate and deregulate users’ emotions. Referring to them as pseudo-bonds, Lindemann does a very good job of trying to characterize a standard relationship with a grief bot. This article is mostly about the grief and well-being of users of griefbots.
- Science and Engineering Ethics
- 2022
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- 50 min
- Science and Engineering Ethics
- 2022
The Ethics of ‘Deathbots’
Lindemann identifies grief bots as techno-social niches that change the affective emotional state of the user. With a focus on the dignity of the bereaved rather than the deceased, Lindemann argues that grief bots can both regulate and deregulate users’ emotions. Referring to them as pseudo-bonds, Lindemann does a very good job of trying to characterize a standard relationship with a grief bot. This article is mostly about the grief and well-being of users of griefbots.
- What does Lindemann mean by internet-enabled techno-social niches, and what things exemplify them?
- After reading this paper, would you ever use–or allow your digital remains to create a deathbot? Why or why not?
- Outline the key data-protection and safety requirements you would test in a pilot program before approving any clinical deployment of grief bots.
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- 20 min
- UC Research Repository
- 2018
This 2018 study uses several experiments to demonstrate how human racial bias is imposed upon robots as well, specifically in that racialised black robots are more likely to be perceived as threatening to the group sampled.
- UC Research Repository
- 2018
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- 20 min
- UC Research Repository
- 2018
Robots and Racism
This 2018 study uses several experiments to demonstrate how human racial bias is imposed upon robots as well, specifically in that racialised black robots are more likely to be perceived as threatening to the group sampled.
Does robots having socially-constructed race happen inherently as robots become more humanoid? If so, could there be applications for robots to fight human racial bias? In general, could technology be a component in eradicating human biases?