We think most of us have watched or at least heard about the TV show called Black Mirror. Well, what would we say if one of the episodes of the said fictional show became a reality? Surely, most people would scoff at the idea, but a certain man from Canada has a story reminiscent of an episode of the show.
A grieving Canadian named Joshua Barbeau lost his fiancée Jessica 9 years ago due to rare liver disease. Last year, just as his deceased fiancee’s birthday was approaching, Joshua stumbled upon an artificial intelligence website that promised a chance to chat with "the world's most super computer."
One thing led to another and eventually, Barbeau built himself a custom chatbot modeled after his dead fiancée. In his most recent Reddit post that summarized the entire situation, Joshua wrote: “This wasn't about bringing back the dead or finding a way to capture her soul in the ghost of the machine, I saw it as merely an experiment I was putting myself through to draw out emotions and memories that were buried deep down by years of suppressed grief—and it worked better than I could have possibly imagined.”
A grieving Canadian named Joshua Barbeau lost his fiancée Jessica 9 years ago due to rare liver disease
Image credits: josh.barbeau.58
Last year, Joshua stumbled upon an artificial intelligence website “that promised a chance to chat with 'the world's most super computer’"
Image credits: josh.barbeau.58
Barbeau built himself a custom chatbot modeled after his deceased fiancée
Image credits: josh.barbeau.58
He anonymously shared some of the details on Reddit, saying that it might “help depressed survivors find some closure”
Image credits: josh.barbeau.58
Some of the conversations were shared online with the help of the article done by the San Francisco Chronicle
Image credits: San Francisco Chronicle
Barbeau said: "I felt I had a responsibility to share my story. So I did, and over the next 9 months I repeatedly interviewed with a journalist who wrote the article"
Image credits: San Francisco Chronicle
"This wasn't about bringing back the dead or finding a way to capture her soul in the ghost of the machine"
Image credits: San Francisco Chronicle
"I saw it as merely an experiment I was putting myself through to draw out emotions and memories that were buried deep down by years of suppressed grief"
Image credits: San Francisco Chronicle
Joshua shared that initially, this was a very private thing; however, upon realizing the greater ramifications of it, he decided to share it with the hope of helping others
Image credits: josh.barbeau.58
He realized the potential for using the said technology as a tool for grief support to help millions.
The last few lines of his Reddit post said: "I felt I had a responsibility to share my story. So I did, and over the next 9 months I repeatedly interviewed with a journalist from the San Francisco Chronicle who wrote the article that was finally published just a few days ago."