Researchers map how dead loved ones and icons get remade into data that can be extracted and monetized, often without consent.
Dmitry Khotsinskiy / Unsplash
Generative AI is getting good at making the dead talk. The newest critique isn’t about whether it sounds real. It’s about what happens when a person’s voice, face, and emotional presence get rebuilt into something that can be reused.
In a 2025 paper in New Media and Society, researchers Tom Divon and Christian Pentzold call this “spectral labor.” The concept frames AI resurrection as a form of posthumous production, where a person can keep “working” through their data after death. That can happen without consent, and without any clear guardrails.
“What we resurrect may not be what we remember, but what technology renders back to us.” That gap is why the output can feel less like closure and more like a copy shaped by the toolmaker.
The three modes of resurrection
Divon and Pentzold analyzed 51 AI resurrection cases collected between January 2023 and June 1, 2024, spanning the US, Europe, the Near East, and East Asia. They sort them into spectacle, sociopolitical use, and everyday grief use.
Spectacle is the glossy version, icons restaged for entertainment. Sociopolitical projects re-invoke the dead for testimony or messaging. The everyday mode is the most intimate, chatbots and synthetic media built to simulate ongoing contact. It’s also the easiest to normalize. Fast.
When presence becomes a product
The paper’s sharpest line is its labor claim. The authors write that “the dead become involuntary sources of data, likeness, and affect.” In this framing, a person’s traces become raw material, then a sellable presence that can be extracted, distributed, and monetized.
In a separate essay, the authors argue the unease isn’t only about realism. It’s about agency. These figures can look responsive while still being authored by someone else’s prompts, edits, and platform rules. It can feel personal but isn’t.
What you should do now
The research argues consent, privacy, and end-of-life choices need a rethink as personal traces get folded into generative systems. Governance still lags behind how quickly these tools can be built and shared.
For you, the practical move is to treat your voice, images, and accounts like assets. Decide who can access them, and put those instructions in writing where possible.
If you’re considering an AI “afterlife” service, ask one question first. Who gets to decide what your future version says.
Paulo Vargas is an English major turned reporter turned technical writer, with a career that has always circled back to…
Project Ava is an AI gaming coach that also runs your day
Razer blends gameplay guidance with routine help, for gamers who live at their PCs.
First unveiled at CES 2026, Razer is previewing Project Ava, a 5.5-inch 3D hologram desk companion that’s built to sit beside your keyboard and stay involved. It’s meant to handle everyday tasks, help with work, and step into games as a training partner.
Ava’s hardware leans on sensors and a wired link, including dual far-field microphones, an HD camera with an ambient light sensor, and a USB-C port for data and power delivery. It’s designed for Windows, with a direct USB-C connection that supports "PC Vision Mode" so it can analyze what’s on your screen with minimal latency.
You can publish apps from Manus without Xcode or Android Studio
New Manus app publishing aims to cut setup friction so you can ship faster to phones.
Manus is adding Manus app publishing, a feature meant to turn an app you build by description into something you can install on your phone. The goal is simple, get from idea to a real mobile build without setting up Xcode or Android Studio.
In its Help Center, Manus lays out a store-facing workflow for Android and iOS. Manus handles the build packaging step, then you finish distribution through Google Play Console or Apple’s App Store Connect and TestFlight.
Your Galaxy Book6 Pro price just jumped in Korea
Samsung’s listed starting prices hit $2310 to $2377, about 20% above the last Pro launch ranges.
Samsung has posted Korean list pricing for the new Galaxy Book6 Pro, and the Galaxy Book6 Pro price is noticeably higher than what recent Pro models opened at. The 14-inch model is listed at 3,410,000 KRW, and the 16-inch version is listed at 3,510,000 KRW.
That's roughly a 20% hike versus the prior generation’s Pro launch pricing. If you’ve been waiting for the next Book refresh, those numbers reset expectations fast.
