“Resurrection” of AI? Let’s forget the past – Opinion

The advent of AI technology has opened the door to a fascinating, yet controversial, possibility: the “resurrection” of deceased individuals. This process involves inputting a person’s voice, image and other personal data into an artificial intelligence model, which is then trained to generate a digital avatar capable of interacting as if the deceased person were still alive. life.

Although the underlying technology is not new, the application of deep synthesis and generative AI to create these avatars raises complex questions about its legal and ethical implications, including privacy, consent and potential misuse.

At its core, the goal of AI “resurrection” technology is to preserve the memories of loved ones. However, its misuse could lead to serious human rights violations and lead to many potential dangers, including fraud and manipulation of public opinion.

First, the violation of posthumous rights. Creating and using a digital avatar of a deceased person involves processing a wide range of personal data, including images, voices and other private information. Misuse of this data can directly undermine the posthumous rights of the deceased. In China, the Civil Code (Article 994) and the Personal Information Protection Law (Article 49) provide legal protection for the personal rights of deceased persons, granting their immediate family members the right to control and protect their data . Unauthorized use of this data may violate these protections.

Second, the risks of non-compliance. At the heart of AI resurrection is the application of generative AI to process sensitive personal data, including biometric features. This raises several compliance issues. Key issues include the origin of training data, the risk of generating misleading or false information, and ensuring data security. If AI-generated content misrepresents the deceased or is used to mislead others, it could lead to widespread misinformation and potential harm.

Third, ethical challenges: ethical governance of AI has become a central issue in global technology regulation. Documents such as the Position Paper on Strengthening Ethical Governance of AI and the Global AI Governance Initiative advocate for a caring, human-centered approach to AI development. However, China’s ethical framework for AI continues to evolve. The use of AI resurrection technology provides a crucial opportunity to refine these regulatory mechanisms and ensure that AI development complies with ethical standards.

Given the potential risks associated with the resurrection of AI, it is essential to establish clear principles to guide its responsible use.

The following principles should form the foundation for the application of AI resurrection technology, ensuring both legal protection and ethical integrity.

Consent is the cornerstone of the ethical use of AI resurrection technology. Before creating a digital avatar of the deceased, it is crucial to provide their pre-written consent (if available) or, failing that, the written consent of their immediate family members. This consent must be clear and unambiguous, ensuring that the technology is applied in accordance with the wishes of the deceased and/or those of their family.

And the entire process of data collection, processing and use must comply with the principles of legality, necessity, fairness and transparency as defined in the Personal Information Protection Law. This includes protecting privacy, ensuring that AI interactions respect the image of the deceased, and preventing the generation of discriminatory, biased, or harmful content. Particular care must also be taken to ensure that data is not used for fraudulent or malicious purposes.

AI “resurrection” technology must be legally valid. To prevent abuse, such as fraud or deception, clear identification markers should be introduced to inform users that they are interacting with the digital avatar of a deceased person. Additionally, since these technologies are capable of collecting private data about users during interactions, it becomes essential to prevent unauthorized data leaks, which could have significant personal and financial consequences for individuals.

In addition to legal safeguards, AI resurrection technology must be governed by a robust ethical framework. This framework should ensure that technology respects individual freedoms and human dignity, and that digital avatars are not treated as legal entities. Clear limits must be set on where and how these avatars can be used, ensuring that they do not replace or overshadow the rights of living individuals.

As AI continues to evolve, ethical implications are becoming an increasingly important aspect of its regulation. Laws are beginning to move away from focusing solely on technical concerns to tackling broader ethical questions. In this process, ethics increasingly becomes the basis of legislation, and AI governance is evolving to directly address these ethical challenges.

Looking ahead, it is crucial to ensure that AI resurrection technology is developed in a way that maximizes its positive impact while minimizing its potential harm. This will require the combined efforts of legal authorities, technologists and ethicists to create frameworks that guide the development of AI in a way that benefits humanity and avoids abuse or exploitation. Only through these efforts can AI technology become a force for good, aligning with evolving legal and ethical principles.

The author is a professor at the Data Law Institute of China University of Political Science and Law and an expert to the United Nations High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence.

The opinions do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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