Yu Hao is training his digital human
Our reporter Li Yineng
On that day, in front of family and friends, the wife on the big screen used a less than standard Trump, smiling and thanking everyone for coming to see her off. She comforted everyone not to be too sad, and finally told her daughter to study hard. If possible, she hoped that she could also study medicine and inherit her unfinished ideal.
At that moment, looking at his wife who was "resurrected" by AI, Zhang Yuan (pseudonym) burst into tears unknowingly.
As Tomb Sweeping Day approaches this year, the business of “AI resurrecting loved ones” has soared in popularity online. People have different opinions on this new thing. Some people think it can help heal the pain of losing a loved one and make up for unfinished regrets; others think it is "rubbing salt on the wound", which has ethical and legal controversies.
However, in the eyes of people in the funeral industry, "resurrecting loved ones" is far from the end of the application of AI technology. There is also a more ambitious plan hidden behind it-digital "immortality." In the future, perhaps everyone can back up their life in advance and achieve eternal retention of life data in the digital world.
one
"Resurrection" of loved ones
Open a shopping website and enter "resurrection of loved ones", and many links will pop up. With just a frontal photo of a deceased relative, you can spend 5 yuan to make someone "move", blink and smile; spend 50 yuan to make the photo "speak"; and spend 90 yuan to add the deceased's original voice. . The search popularity of this business has recently increased by 600%.
"Dozens of people came to consult today. The business is so good that we can't keep busy." "Online Resurrectionist" Zhang Wei (pseudonym) believes that the recent popularity of "resurrecting loved ones" is the dual result of popular events and mature technology.
Not long ago, musician Bao Xiaobai used AI technology to "resurrect" his deceased beloved daughter, Bao Bao, which attracted great attention. Many people learned about the application of AI technology to "resurrect the dead."
"Some people find it a bit strange and think it does not conform to traditional concepts, but there are also many people who are curious and want to try it because it is Qingming Festival soon." Zhang Wei said that most of his customers are satisfied with the effect of the product, and many of them They all just lost their loved ones, and digital people can alleviate the pain of missing their loved ones to a certain extent.
Another reason is that with the rapid development of AI technology in recent years, the cost of producing digital humans has been greatly reduced. What once took several thousand or even tens of thousands of yuan can be done, but now it can be done for less than a hundred yuan. This has also made "network resuscitationists" like Zhang Wei a new profession.
Despite this, Zhang Wei is not optimistic about the future of this industry. "The threshold is too low, the software operation is actually very simple, and the competition is too fierce." Moreover, the results of digital people "resurrected" through basic software are not very satisfactory. The characters' expressions are stiff and their voices sound emotionless, which is far from "lifelike". There is a certain distance. After the novelty wears off, there is a question mark as to whether there will be repeat customers.
"In addition, there are many risks in this industry. The main ones are privacy and ethics. If they are not handled well, you will encounter big problems." Zhang Wei believes that the photos sent by customers involve personal privacy, and how to use them requires business self-discipline. However, currently the merchant cannot determine whether the customer has the right to use the photo and the purpose of the generated digital person. Zhang Wei is worried that if this technology is abused, violates ethics, or is suspected of illegal crimes, the merchants who assisted in the production will also bear corresponding responsibilities.
two
special farewell
Zhang Yuan still remembers how emaciated his wife was before her death, with her eyes full of reluctance. She watched him cry silently, but was speechless.
As a doctor, my wife has cured many patients, but she failed to save herself. She became the backbone of the hospital when she was less than 40 years old. Her wife's dedication and medical ethics are well-known. Even if her life is about to end, she is determined to leave as a doctor - donating her body so that three patients can have a new life because of her.
Impressed by the noble character and touching deeds of this female doctor who died young, Fu Shou Yuan, who organized her funeral, proposed to make a commemorative video for her and play it at the memorial service. One of the steps is to create a digital person, allowing her to say goodbye to her relatives and friends "in person" and leave her final instructions.
Zhang Yuan refused at first. He has been unable to accept his wife leaving because he is afraid that seeing his wife's figure will cause a second blow. The daughter, who is in junior high school, persuaded her father that she wanted to remember her mother forever and let everyone know that her mother was an extraordinary person. "If my mother knew, she would definitely support it."
In the end, Zhang Yuan was persuaded by his daughter and provided the information and data for making the video, including his wife's photos, videos, voice messages, etc. He also tried his best to cooperate with the staff in recalling his wife's last wishes and instructions. After completing the information collection, he was busy organizing the memorial service and did not pay special attention to it. Until that day——
"Looking at the familiar micro-expressions and habitual movements in the video, I suddenly felt that my wife was right in front of me, and she was really back again." Zhang Yuan said. After a moment of heartache, he felt that the blocked place in his heart suddenly Feeling relaxed, all the emotions and sadness were released, and the tears shed were more moved. Mr. Zhang is convinced that his daughter's choice was the right one. This farewell made up for a lot of regrets. His wife's spirit and expectations will be preserved and will become a valuable asset to the family and be passed down continuously.
"At that moment, technology was actually secondary. The core was to find the emotions that can touch the softest side of people's hearts." Tang Yang, general manager of Fushouyun, who planned the funeral, believes that the use of digital human technology in the funeral industry is not for Show off skills and sensationalism, but help the families of the deceased live a better life, making artificial intelligence that has no emotional attributes become a container of warmth.
three
digital funeral
On the eve of Qingming Festival this year, major cemeteries in Shanghai vigorously promote land-saving ecological burials, including "digital burials" using AI technology. In 2018, Fushouyuan launched the digital funeral platform "Fushou Cloud". This year, it launched digital services such as digital ancestral halls, digital funerals, digital rituals, and digital human models.
"A real problem is that physical cemeteries are becoming increasingly scarce, and the life information of the deceased saved is also very limited. Therefore, AI technology, cloud technology, and the metaverse must be the future development direction of the funeral industry." Fan, Vice President of Fushouyuan International Group Jun believes that "resurrecting loved ones" has attracted much attention recently, and its origins can be traced back to the exploration and thinking of the funeral industry more than ten years ago.
"To understand the essence of this matter, we must understand it from the origin of human funeral behavior." Fan Jun believes that the core purpose of funerals is to retain information. The remains represent biological information, while tombstones and epitaphs contain information about the deceased. life information. "Everyone will die twice. The first time is to lose their life, and the second time to be forgotten." Fan Jun strongly agrees with this point of view in the animated film "Coco". With current science and technology, it is possible to It is not realistic for human life to last forever, but it is possible to preserve human life information forever. The ultimate goal of using AI digital human technology in the funeral industry is to preserve all aspects of the deceased, from image to voice, memory, personality, and even thinking patterns. "The model of human civilization inheritance may be changed as a result. In the future, people may be able to communicate with their ancestors, and their experiences and thoughts will be presented in a more intuitive way."
Fan Jun said that research on the application of AI technology, cloud technology, etc. in the funeral field has been increasingly applied to offline businesses in recent years. "For example, the funerals of Academician Wu Mengchao and famous media figure Cao Jingxing all used digital human technology. The physical attributes of traditional cemeteries account for 80% and the spiritual attributes account for 20%. With the advancement of science and technology, these two data will be reversed. In the future, the funeral industry The direction of development will definitely focus more on spiritual inheritance.”
Four
backup life
In the science fiction movie "The Wandering Earth 2", humans convert consciousness into data through the "Digital Life Project" to achieve immortality in the digital world. Transferring consciousness is too fantasy at this stage, but some people are still exploring another possibility - "backup life."
At the front desk of Yunjia Technology Co., Ltd. in Gongshu District, Hangzhou, there is a holographic warehouse that is as tall as one person. A digital person "sees" someone coming and greets him proactively: "Hello, how can I help you?"
This "front desk" is the digital clone of Yu Hao, the company's CEO. Through AI training, the digital clone is not only very similar to the "original person" in image and voice, but also retains part of his memory, thinking patterns and even mantras, and can simply communicate with others.
"Essentially, it is a backup of mine, just like the clone created by Monkey King blowing monkey hair. It can help me do various things." Yu Hao believes that copying appearance and voice is now easy to achieve, but the difficulty lies in preserving memory. , thinking patterns, expression habits, personality traits, etc. These are the various factors that distinguish people from each other.
Yu Hao and his colleagues divided these elements into six-dimensional modules, simulated human thinking through the division of labor and collaboration of multiple large AI models, and input a large amount of personal information to train the AI. In theory, the more complete the training, the higher the similarity between digital and real people, until it is difficult to distinguish between true and false.
Who can use digital clones? Not long ago, a customer came to Yu Hao and asked to order a digital person of his grandson to chat with his grandparents in order to help his parents relieve their loneliness. There was also a customer whose father was diagnosed with a serious illness and may only have less than two years to live. Recently, he I started to forget, so I hoped to "emergency rescue" my father's image and memory, and leave as much information as possible for the family.
"The most commonly used scene at present is psychological trauma healing. If the digital human is used properly, it can really help the family members of the deceased get out of grief as soon as possible." Yu Hao said that when making the digital human in the funeral scene, they will refer to psychology. The advice of trauma therapists is to let digital people enlighten family members and help them accept the reality as soon as possible instead of being addicted to it and unable to extricate themselves. "This places high demands on whether a company adheres to technology for good, and it also requires strict supervision by government departments to prevent technology from being abused."
This year’s Qingming Festival, the concept of digital people is very popular, and the company just made a profit last month. Maybe this wave of popularity will not last long, but Yu Hao is full of confidence in the prospects of "backup life". After work every day, Yu Hao will take the time to improve his "life diary", recording what happens every day, and the information he wants others to know. These will become key information for training Yu Hao's digital clone. "After a hundred years, I will leave this world, but my digital person will always exist, and future generations can chat with it and understand what an interesting person I am."
five
System Construction
This year’s National Two Sessions, artificial intelligence has become the focus of attention from all walks of life. An important topic is how to strengthen system construction to safeguard the healthy development of this emerging industry. As an important usage scenario for the first implementation of AI technology, digital humans have legal and ethical controversies, which have attracted great attention from experts and scholars.
Lawyer Liu Chunquan, a partner in the Intellectual Property Department of Shanghai Duan & Duan Law Firm, once served as deputy director of the Policy and Legal Committee of the China Electronic Commerce Association. "It is understandable to use digital human technology to commemorate the deceased and comfort people, but the prerequisite is the authorization of the person and his family." Liu Chunquan believes that if someone makes a digital human from the deceased's information without authorization, or even makes a profit, it may violate the law and be suspected of infringement. , even if the deceased no longer enjoys the rights of a civil subject, his family members can still safeguard their rights in accordance with the law.
Another potential risk brought by this new thing is the possibility of citizen information being stolen. Liu Chunquan believes that any video, photo, or voice can be used to create a digital human. If used for illegal and criminal activities such as telecommunications fraud, the harm cannot be ignored. "Although the current technology cannot completely distinguish the fake from the real, a breakthrough may be achieved one day, so we must prepare for a rainy day."
Liu Chunquan believes that the judiciary has already conducted research and discussions on regulating the use of new technologies such as AI digital humans. "On the one hand, we must remind the public to pay attention to the protection of personal data privacy; on the other hand, we must also call on the law to follow up in a timely manner, improve relevant regulations at the beginning of problems, and provide institutional guarantees for technological development. As an enterprise, we must also be forward-looking. Formulate and follow certain technical protocols to ensure that digital people are traceable and identifiable. The specific implementation path must be discussed by technical experts and legal experts."
This is also the consensus of many experts in the industry. Shen Jianping, deputy director of the Shanghai Yangtze River Delta Smart City Development Research Institute, believes that making digital people, especially "resurrecting" the dead, should be done with caution. "If used well, it can pass on ideas and soothe people's hearts. If used incorrectly, it will rub salt into the wound and bring disputes and troubles." Shen Jianping pointed out that not long ago, someone "resurrected" dead celebrities without authorization and used them to drain traffic on the platform, which brought troubles to their families. harm.
"A successful case is that not long ago, the Chinese People's Volunteer Army Memorial Hall in Yongfu Garden, Shanghai, used digital human technology to allow a martyr who died 71 years ago to read a letter home in his local accent after obtaining authorization from his family. The social response was very good." Shen Jianping believes that the core integration point between AI and the funeral service industry, including life education, is cultural inheritance. “Carrying out ‘artificial intelligence + culture’ innovation with such original intentions may give rise to a new cultural industry.”