I remember coming across on Facebook a post on using a dead person’s social media presence to inhabit an AI persona. I think it was in China. In this way, the parents can still talk to their dead daughter. I didn’t click on it because I thought, what an absurd idea! But is it?
I remembered this again as I asked Gemini to suggest topics for the #HealthXPH chat. One of the topics suggested was “digital ghost.” So … that’s what it’s called! As Dok Bru, I’ve built digital footprints online. What happens when I die? I’m only turning 55 this year and wish for many decades more of a productive life. Ah, but that’s many more years of leaving digital traces! Show your 2016 (a decade go) was even trending this January because of the New Year. Yup, it’s still there online, whatever it is you did 10 years ago.
According to research from the Oxford Internet Institute (Öhman & Watson, 2019), Facebook could host more dead users than living ones by the end of this century. At least 1.4 billion members will die before 2100, and in a conservative scenario, the dead could outnumber the living by 2070. We are witnessing the rise of what scholars call “digital ghosts” – fragments of lives that continue to echo long after a body is buried or cremated.
Claude pointed me to www.hereafter.ai. Watch the demo! I’m not quite sure how I feel about it. How about you? Then there’s Michael Bommer who was dying of cancer and had a digital twin made so his wife could still talk to him after he died. This is “grief tech” as exemplified by the company by Eternos, which created Bommer’s digital twin.
Let’s discuss the issues at the #HealthXPH chat on 24 Jan 2026 9 pm Manila time:
T1. How do you feel about the idea of “digital ghosts?” Passive (like social media memorials) or active (like AI chatbots of deceased loved ones)? Would you want your own digital ghost to exist?
T2. As a healthcare professional, what concerns do you have about digital ghosts in the context of grief, bereavement, and mental health? As a patient or someone who has experienced loss, how would you feel about interacting with a digital representation of a deceased loved one?
T3. What practical steps should people take to plan their digital legacy?
[Disclosure: The topic was suggested by Gemini. I used Claude to help find references for the blog post. Canva AI generated the image.]