I’ll Be Right Back: Ai to bring back the dead

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming how we preserve and cherish memories of loved ones, offering innovative ways to keep their essence alive. From voice replication to creating lifelike avatars, AI provides tools that blend technology with emotion, helping us stay connected to those we’ve lost. However, these developments have the potential for harmful implications.

In 2025, we are witnessing rapid AI integration into daily life—from virtual assistants to lifelike robots like Japan’s Erika(McCurry, 2015). These innovations echo the speculative technology in “Be Right Back,” making its cautionary tale more pertinent than ever. The episode serves as a reminder that while technology can enhance our lives, it cannot replace genuine human connection (Rogers, 2024). It challenges us to consider how far we should go in pursuing technological solutions to deeply human problems like grief and loss.

If we want to predict the possible concerns regarding this new reality, the Black Mirror episode “Be Right Back” has become increasingly relevant in today’s world as advancements in artificial intelligence  mirror its central themes of grief, identity, and the ethical boundaries of technology. The episode explores the story of Martha, who uses AI to recreate her deceased partner, Ash, through his digital footprint. This concept resonates deeply in a time when AI is capable of simulating human behavior with startling accuracy.

AI and Grief: Escaping Loss

In the episode, Martha initially finds comfort in communicating with a virtual version of Ash, created from his online activity. This parallels real-world developments, such as bots designed to mimic deceased loved ones using their social media data. For example, projects like the Roman Mazurenko bot demonstrate how AI can be used to “extend” someone’s presence after death. The bot was based off of their deceased art director, and was developed to mimic the responses Roman would have used in real life. His friend came up with the idea after he passed, and she found herself re-reading all her old conversations with him. The friend was inspired by this episode of black mirror, and while she struggled with the implications of it, her and his friends uploaded their text messages to the Ai neural network. This allowed for “responses” from him in their chats (Newton, 2016).  However, as the episode shows, this technology raises questions about whether such simulations help or hinder the grieving process. While they may provide temporary solace, they also risk delaying emotional closure by creating an illusion of continuity. While some therapists argue there’s no such thing as “closure” from a death; rather no longer letting it affect your daily living, Ai could potentially hinder this further. If the pretend the loss did not happen and actually engage with the “loved one”, there may be no opportunity to allow us to heal (Wong, 2023).

The Limits of AI Authenticity

“Be Right Back” highlights the limitations of AI in replicating human complexity. Despite the android Ash’s physical resemblance and behavioral mimicry, Martha becomes disillusioned by his lack of emotional depth and spontaneity. This reflects a broader truth: while AI can imitate patterns and behaviors, it struggles to capture the nuanced imperfections that make humans unique. For instance, current AI models excel at generating text or images but fall short in replicating human intuition or emotional unpredictability. As noted, responses from “Roman” as mentioned above only sometimes accurately replicated him (Newton, 2016).

Ethical Implications in a World of AI

The episode also raises ethical concerns about consent and identity. Is it morally acceptable to recreate someone without their permission? As AI advances, these questions become pressing. Technologies like hyper-realistic androids or voice-cloning software already exist, blurring lines between reality and wanting. Natural language processing has become excellent at mimicking human thought, and supports Ai in sounding like humans, however it cannot completely mimic the human experience in that. Referred to as the “hard problem of consciousness”, it cannot (yet) understand subjective experience. (Kiyani, 2025). The potential misuse of such tools—for example, creating replicas for profit or manipulation—underscores the need for ethical frameworks. Not to mention the psychological implications of working through grief, there will need to be much more research into the possible results.

Citations:

Citations:

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