Eterni.me lets you Skype with the dead
The website lets you create virtual avatars of the dead so you can video chat with them once they are gone.
‘Eterni.me’ is a startup by engineers, designers and business people, of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)’s Entrepreneurship Development Program. The start-up created virtual avatars of the ceased for the loved ones to chat online.
The site claims that it can digitally reconstruct your personality after your death by assembling portrait based on your online activities. The team looks into your social-network information, chat logs, photos, e-mails and then uses this information to reconstruct your memories and mannerisms.
“Eterni.me collects almost everything that you create during your lifetime and processes this huge amount of information using complex Artificial Intelligence algorithms,” according to the website.
“Then it generates a virtual YOU, an avatar that emulates your personality and can interact with, and offer information and advice to, your family and friends after you pass away. It’s like a Skype chat from the past,” it said.
The site received 1,300 email registrations and 36000 page views within 24 hours of going live, confirmed Marius Ursache, the startup’s chief executive. Apart from that there isn’t much information available, except a few headshots of the team of designers, engineers and business people involved in the development of the website. However, interested users can enter their e-mail address to receive updates about the launch, which is “soon.” “We’ll be accepting new users gradually,” the page reads.
If the site works as promised, it may provide a fascinating model for people who want tangible connections with their deceased loved ones.
Source: CNET