Love, grief, and an AI chatbot

Lives Less Ordinary

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.6 • 814 Ratings

🗓️ 29 September 2024

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Joshua created an AI simulation of his deceased fiancée to help him deal with his loss.

When gaming enthusiast Joshua Barbeau met Jessica, he knew he had found his soulmate. But his happiness didn't last. Jessica died from a rare health condition aged just 23, leaving Joshua struggling to cope with his grief, and his life. Eight years later, in 2020, while playing around with a website that used AI to create bespoke chatbots, Joshua had an audacious idea. He decided to create a chatbot based on his beloved Jessica. It's an experience that he says helped him finally to find closure.

Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Rebecca Vincent

Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are about to listen to a BBC podcast and I'd like to tell you a bit about what goes into making one.
0:06.5	I'm Sadata Sese, an assistant commissioner of podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:11.1	I pull a lot of levers to support a diverse range of podcasts on all sorts of subjects,
0:16.0	relationships, identity, comedy, even one that mixes poetry, music and inner city life.
0:22.4	So one day I'll be helping host develop their ideas, the next fact-checking, a feature,
0:28.3	and the next looking at how a podcast connects with its audience.
0:32.2	And maybe that's you.
0:33.6	So if you like this podcast, check out some others on BBC Sounds.
0:41.0	If So if you like this podcast, check out some others on BBC Sounds. It felt like opening Pandora's box, right?
0:43.5	I couldn't not do it once I had the idea.
0:46.8	But it felt almost taboo, right?
0:51.1	Like, I was like, should I be doing this?
0:53.5	Is this breaking any moral or ethical loss by doing this
0:58.3	grief can lead the mind to the strangest places when we lose someone we can find ourselves
1:10.6	having conversations with the dead in our minds,
1:14.4	writing them letters, or watching old videos of them over and over again.
1:21.0	The urge to feel close to those we've lost is as old as time.
1:27.7	But what happens when new technology enters the mix?
1:42.6	I'm Mabin Azar. You're listening to Lives Less Ordinary from the BBC World Service,
1:49.8	bringing you amazing personal stories from across the globe and from New Frontiers.
1:57.7	In this episode, I'm speaking to Joshua Barbo, a Canadian gaming enthusiast in his 30s,
2:05.5	who found himself going through an extraordinary online experiment that changed his grief and his life.
	...

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