2026年7月13日 美国东部时间下午1:04 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻（CBS News）
作者：梅根·塞鲁洛 记者，MoneyWatch栏目
杰克·曼宁亲身经历过以恰当方式纪念亲人的情感与现实挑战。在10多年前失去姐姐后，他和家人花费数百小时筹集资金，组织了一项纪念她的志愿者项目。
“我们花了数年时间举办烘焙义卖和5公里跑活动，才筹到足够资金，以对我们有意义的方式纪念她。我们亲眼看到打造一个有意义的纪念物需要付出多少努力，”他告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，“我当时就在想，科技肯定能帮上忙。”
人工智能应运而生。曼宁是科罗拉多大学博尔德分校信息科学专业的博士生，他目前正在研究如何利用大型语言模型（LLM）打造所谓的“生成幽灵”——也就是基于逝者的社交媒体帖子、电子邮件、音视频录像、照片及其他数据训练的AI聊天机器人，创建一个数字仿真形象，供亲友在逝者去世后与其互动。
“这无疑是一个正在发展的领域。我们看到人们对人工智能与悲伤疗愈结合的兴趣与日俱增，”曼宁说道。
“栩栩如生”的虚拟化身
目前已有多家初创公司提供这类服务，包括Séance AI、You, Only Virtual以及re;memory。例如，Re;memory允许用户根据照片和语音录音，创建已故亲人的栩栩如生的虚拟化身。
“通过让你与已故亲人的栩栩如生的数字化身互动，你可以在表达爱意与歉意时获得慰藉，搭建一座通往你珍藏的美好回忆的桥梁，”该公司在其官网上表示。该工具“能让你亲眼看见、亲耳听见父母在珍藏照片中的模样，而不只是在脑海中想象他们”。
在6月发表于美国计算机协会的一篇论文中，领衔研究员杰德·布鲁巴克及其同事观察了研究对象对逝者AI“幽灵”的反应。杰德·布鲁巴克是科罗拉多大学博尔德分校研究社会技术系统的副教授。
“参与者填写了一份简单的问卷，分享他们对亲人的美好回忆，谈论他们的成长经历与核心性格特征，”他解释道，“他们对大型语言模型仅凭如此少量的信息就能生成如此逼真的内容感到惊叹。”
据曼宁介绍，生成幽灵主要有两种基本类型。简单的“死亡机器人”只能回放逝者生前录制的原话，无法模拟逝者的沟通方式。
“你可以通过免费ChatGPT账号输入一条简单提示，生成一个还算逼真但略显单薄的亲人形象，”布鲁巴克说道，“就像你可以提示它‘用莎士比亚的口吻和我说话’，你也可以说‘用我祖父的方式和我聊天——这里有一些他的行为细节’。”
延续对话
生成幽灵的功能远不止于此，它可以重现逝者的声音与沟通方式，支持与生者互动，甚至能以人们熟悉的方式回答问题。
“它们能够说出逝者生前可能不会说的话。这些‘幽灵’是能够替逝者发声的AI模型，或许可以回答逝者生前未曾回答过的问题，”曼宁说道。
消费者的使用成本各不相同。Re;memory面向个人用户收取每月24美元的费用，可创建三个定制虚拟化身。Séance AI的用户每月支付19.99美元，即可创建已故亲人的动态图像，能够微笑、轻轻摇头，并以逝者的声音说话。
研究人员发现，研究对象普遍更喜欢以第一人称与AI“幽灵”互动，让聊天机器人直接化身逝者，而非以第三人称说话的虚拟化身。有一个会让用户反感的点：如果聊天机器人使用了逝者生前从不使用的亲昵称呼，比如“老兄”或“伙计”，用户就会想要终止互动。
生成幽灵与所谓的深度伪造存在一些共性，后者可通过伪造公众人物的言行误导大众。但布鲁巴克表示，二者存在显著区别。
“深度伪造的根本前提是意图欺骗，”布鲁巴克说道，“而生成幽灵的目的并非欺骗他人。”
本文编辑：阿兰·谢特尔
AI companies are creating “generative ghosts” of deceased loved ones
July 13, 2026 1:04 PM EDT / CBS News
By Megan Cerullo Reporter, MoneyWatch
Jack Manning knows firsthand the emotional and practical challenge of memorializing a loved one in a way that feels appropriate. After losing his sister more than 10 years ago, he and his family spent hundreds of hours raising funds to organize a volunteer project honoring her.
“It took years of bake sales and 5Ks to raise money to honor her memory in a way that was meaningful to us. We got to see how much effort is required to create a memorial that’s impactful,” he told CBS News. “I thought, surely there is a way that technology can help us.”
Enter artificial intelligence. Manning, a doctoral candidate in information science at the University of Colorado Boulder, is now studying the use of large language models (LLM) to create what some are calling “generative ghosts” — AI chatbots trained on a dead person’s social media posts, emails, audio and video recordings, photos and other data to create a digital simulation that family and friends can interact with after the individual’s death.
“It is definitely a growing sector. We’re seeing growth in interest in how AI and grief intertwine,” Manning said.
A “lifelike” avatar
A number of startups now offer these services, including Séance AI, You, Only Virtual and re;memory. For example, Re;memory, lets users create lifelike avatars of their loved ones based on photos and voice recordings.
“By allowing you to interact with a lifelike digital avatar of your loved one, you can find solace in expressing your love and forgiveness, creating a bridge to the cherished moments you hold dear,” the company says on its website. The tool “allows you to see and hear your parents as they were in their cherished photos, rather than just imagining them.”
In a June paper published in the Association for Computing Machinery by lead researcher Jed Brubaker, an associate professor at the University of Colorado Boulder who studies socio-technical systems, Manning and his colleagues observed study participants’ reactions to the AI ghosts of people they have lost.
“Participants filled out a simple survey sharing positive memories of a loved one, talking about their upbringing and core traits,” he explained. “And they were fascinated by how much an LLM can do with so little information.”
There are two basic kinds of generative ghosts, according to Manning. A simple “death bot” could be limited to playing back verbatim any statements recorded by a loved one, but would be incapable of simulating the deceased’s manner of communication.
“You can get a reasonable, although thin representation of a loved one with a single prompt on a free ChatGPT account,” Brubaker said. “The same way you might prompt it to say, ‘Talk to me like Shakespeare,’ you can say, ‘Talk to me like my grandfather — here are some details about how he acted.’”
Continuing the conversation
Generative ghosts go significantly further by recreating the deceased’s voice and manner of communication, and offering the ability to interact with the living, even responding to questions in a recognizably familiar way.
“They are capable of saying things a loved one might not have said. Ghosts are AI models that can talk for somebody, maybe answering a question that they didn’t answer when they were alive,” Manning said.
The cost to consumers is variable. Re;memory charges $24 a month for individuals to create three custom avatars. For $19.99 per month, Sceance AI users can create animated images of their loved ones that can smile, make gentle head movements and speak in the deceased’s voice.
The researchers found that study participants generally preferred communicating with an AI “ghost” of their loved one in the first person, with the chatbot serving as a direct reincarnation, rather than an avatar speaking in the third person. One turnoff: if a bot used a term of endearment, like “champ” or “pal,” that their loved one typically didn’t say, a user wanted to end the interaction.
Generative ghosts share some commonalities with so-called deepfakes, which can be designed to mislead the public by fabricating a public figure’s speech and actions. But Brubaker said there is a distinct difference.
“The fundamental premise of a deep fake is the intent to deceive,” Brubaker said. “The intent of generative ghosts is not to deceive another person.”
Edited by Alain Sherter
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