Artificial intelligence is fundamentally reframing human mortality, with “virtual continuations” of the deceased risking our ability to accept the permanence of loss.
Shisei Tei, a researcher at Kyoto University, argues that while chatbots can offer comfort, they often distort perceptions of existence by creating an illusion of presence, reports Kyoto University.
“AI-induced virtual continuations of the deceased can comfort the living and extend memory to some extent,” said Tei. “But they can also blur presence and absence, potentially hindering our capacity to accept impermanence.”
In a chapter for the book SecondDeath: Experiences of Death Across Technologies, Tei warns that maladaptive interactions with these digital avatars can disrupt the natural bereavement process.
He suggests that relying on such technology may reinforce “submissiveness or overcompensation” in the grieving, altering both internal and societal perspectives on death.
The human experience
Tei, who describes himself as “clumsy with technology” and does not own a smartphone, contrasts the human experience with the rigid logic of machines.
While traditional belief systems and mental health care emphasise the importance of accepting uncertainty, AI models are built on cost-benefit reasoning that offers quick, straightforward answers. This, Tei argues, risks “flattening” complex emotional experiences.
“Outsourcing decision-making or emotional support to machines risks weakening the very wisdom we aim to cultivate,” said Tei.
Although AI offers potential psychotherapeutic applications — such as a “Freud-chatbot” — its cybernetic logic may intensify an overreliance on reasoning at the expense of emotional resilience.
Mutual interdependence
Drawing on the framework of “selfless selves” — a concept influenced by Tibetan Buddhism and biologist Francisco Varela — Tei describes how living systems sustain themselves through mutual interdependence, much like cells in a body.
Humans cultivate empathy and a sense of belonging through face-to-face and nonverbal communication, interactions that define “how it feels and what it means to be alive”.
In contrast, AI agents present artificial identities while lacking a fixed selfhood. They mimic connection without sharing the biological vulnerability that binds communities together.
Tei stresses that dying often evokes a sense of connection to something broader, in which an individual may pass away, but parts of them live on in their community.
“Death becomes certain once life begins,” Tei wrote. “And denying its anticipation risks denying life itself.”
