Would you want to be resurrected?

As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly capable of simulating human personalities, new forms of digital remembrance have emerged in the form of deathbots – AI systems designed to imitate deceased individuals. These technologies challenge the traditional role of the deathbed as a site of final departure by enabling continued interaction with digital representations of the dead. This project investigates how AI-mediated afterlives reshape experiences of grief, memory, and presence through The Digital Deathbed, an interactive installation that combines a “hospital” bed, medical imagery, projections, and a prototype conversational deathbot. By inviting visitors to engage with a simulated deceased person, the installation explores the emotional appeal and ethical tensions of digital resurrection, questioning whether such technologies preserve meaningful connections or transform mourning into an ongoing technological relationship.