Artificially alive: How AI is bringing the dead back and what that means for the living
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 13-Jun-2026 10:15 ET (13-Jun-2026 14:15 GMT/UTC)
A new study shows that generative AI is already being used to “bring back” the dead, as entertainment icons, as political witnesses, and as everyday companions for grieving families. Tracing cases of AI “resurrections,” the study claims this practice isn’t just emotionally powerful; it’s ethically explosive because it turns a person’s voice, face, and life history into reusable raw material. AI resurrections are important because they can happen with little or no consent, clear ownership rules, or accountability, creating a new kind of exploitation the authors call “spectral labor,” where the dead become an involuntary source of data and profit, while the living are left to navigate blurred lines between memory and manipulation, comfort and coercion, tribute and abuse.
Researchers have developed a wearable, comfortable and washable device called Revoice that could help people regain the ability to communicate naturally and fluently following a stroke, without the need for invasive brain implants.
University of Copenhagen and the Danish Technical University (DTU) enters into a broad partnership representing academia, the health-sector, government, industry, investors and innovation ecosystem actors to boost the development of the Innovation District Copenhagen.