AI and the Emergence of Griefbots

I’m so conflicted by AI and the emergence of “griefbots.” I keep seeing articles that say AI might make grief obsolete… but can it? And should it? Would I want my grief to disappear?

I don’t think I do. Because inside my grief lives my love. My grief reminds me how deeply I loved and was loved in return. I don't think I’d ever want to lose that, or forget...even through the pain.

The idea of hearing my loved one’s voice through AI feels both comforting and quietly heartbreaking. Comforting because I crave the warmth and the echo of who they were. But heartbreaking because I would know it isn’t really them.

My mom’s name translates to “the moon’s rays,” and since she passed, I often look up at the moon and I talk to her. She only talks back in my dreams. I know she isn’t here physically, and yet her spirit feels present everywhere I look. She is present in the birds, in the clouds, in the sky, in the small ordinary moments that suddenly feel sacred.

Grief, though, is deeply personal. What wouldn’t feel real or helpful to me might be exactly what someone else needs in their journey of loss. For some, a griefbot may offer comfort in those early, unbearable days. Maybe it creates space for conversations they never got to finish or questions they never got to ask.

And still, I wonder what it means for us on this grief journey long term. Grief isn’t something I want erased or rushed past. It has changed me. It has made me who I am today. It has deepened the way I love and notice the world around me. It has shaped how I see everything.

So I remain conflicted. I understand the comfort technology can offer, but I also believe there is something sacred about the quiet spaces grief creates where memory, love, longing, sorrow, and acceptance slowly find their way toward one another.

I’m curious what you think about griefbots.