Raising the Dead via Artificial Intelligence and What it Could mean for your Charity.

Yes I’m aware this sound very Black Mirror and I realise that I need to write this as sensitively as possible. Since March of this year it’s become possible to reanimate people who have passed away. To recreate them on video in an entirely photo realistic way.  And probably by Xmas of this year, they will be able to interact in real time in a completely life like way with us, with real shared memories, and distinct behavioural characteristics.

Since 2025 artificial intelligence within video and animation production process has given us ever more realistic deep fakes. And since 2026 the LLM’s and vast swathes of digital data such as video and text messages can be combined to recreate people digitally and completely realistically.

Think this is science fiction? Val Kilmer is starring in ‘As Deep As The Grave’ later this year. Kilmer passed away two years ago at 65 years old after battling throat cancer. With the estates consent he’s now starring in the movie.

Closer to home, my production company,  Synima currently has two jobs in production recreating CEO’s who have passed away. One is a long dead founder of the company, who’s oil painting hangs in a hallway. The other a famous celebrity who passed away just last year. In both instances they are being brought back, with the estates permission, to lead an AGM.

What has this got to do with charities? Well the thought occurs that many charities have celebrity brand ambassadors. And these ambassadors pass away, often through the cause they were advocating for. This new found ability to continue the relationship between a charity and its brand ambassador is worth considering.

There is a precedent for this. The wonderful comedian Bob Monkhouse continued to advocate for the ‘Prostate Cancer Research Foundation’ (now known as ‘Prostate Cancer Research’) long after he had passed away from prostate cancer.  Bob was appearing on posters, so is it that much of a leap to appear as an avatar?

Of course, the estates permission will always be required to re-animate someone. But in my experience the bereaved are often open to leveraging the profile of their loved one to simply ‘put something back’.

It will be very interesting to see where this technology leads and certainly there will be commercial relationships (as with Val Kilmer) forged and IP leveraged within the entertainment industry. It’s already happening. And as with Black Mirror, it won’t be long before consumers will be able to recreate the people we’ve known and loved who have passed away.

If you’d like to know more about any of this from a technical or commercial perspective but most of all from a charitable perspective, please get in touch.