When it comes to losing a loved one, Canadians still want to keep it real despite the emergence of artificial intelligence.
The Love, Loss, and the Digital Afterlife Survey by Willful, Canada’s online estate planning platform, found more than two-thirds (75%) of Canadians don’t want to interact with an AI version of their partners after they die.
As for the AI curious, only 7% of Canadians (mostly men and Gen Xers) are more open to creating an AI chatbot that can mimic their past loved ones.
The poll found men are slightly more likely to want their partner’s memories and personality to be captured into an AI chatbot after they’ve passed away (8% of men versus 5% of women) and Gen X Canadians are slightly more likely to want the same thing (8% compared to an average of 7% with Gen Z, Millenials and Boomers).
The survey also found 43% would want their social media accounts to either remain active or be turned into loving memorials after they die.
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
The poll found women (31%) are more likely than men (28%) to want their partner to close their accounts without downloading any content and men are slightly more likely to want their partner to let their accounts fade away (31% versus 24%).
As respondents increase in age, they were more likely to prefer their partner close their social media accounts entirely, without downloading any content, with those aged 18 to 34 at 16%, 35 to 54 at 27%, and 55-plus at 40%.
Willfull also provided two examples of those who did utlize AI after a loved ones’ death.
The company said Ottawa-based Chris Zuger turned his late father’s speech patterns from their text conversations into a ChatGPT program in 2023. And in 2017, California-based James Vlahos turned his late father’s likeness into a ‘Dadbot,’ designed to retain his dad’s experiences and personality.