This funeral home uses AI to bring photos of your deceased relatives to life

WIRED: What type of technology does the platform use?

J. García López: It was developed based on Generative AI from image to video. The project was carried out in record time, 15 days with 6 people from the company’s IT development team.

WIRED: What inspired this campaign, how did the idea to create this dynamic come about?

J. García López: Innovation is part of J. García López’s DNA, the advancement of technology has allowed us to continue innovating in our tributes to life to create unique experiences with Mexican families. Example of this is Infinite Experiencea technological advance that is revolutionizing funeral services, an innovation that combines a state-of-the-art screen with 2.6 millimeter Pitch LED technology, anti-reflection and crystal clear ambient sound. Which allows us to capture the most precious memories captured in photographs and videos of those that will remain in our memory, all in a unique environment of immersive technology.

Inspired by this type of tribute, this year we created a landing page with AI with the idea of ​​creating a special meeting that keeps the memory of our relatives alive. He Day of the Dead It is a time when families come together to honor and celebrate the lives of their loved ones, therefore, we consider it an opportunity to integrate technology that is already part of our daily lives, such as AI, to the tributes on this very date. significant.

You’re still here, It represents longing, since we all remember that special person whom we would like to greet and meet again. It is a symbolic opportunity to live together and receive those who have advanced along the line of life.

It is not the first initiative to revive our dead. HereAfter AI was released in 2019, two years after the debut of StoryFilea platform that creates interactive videos in which subjects appear to make eye contact, breathe, and blink while answering questions. Both technologies generate responses based on what users previously shared to questions such as “tell me about your childhood” or “what has been the biggest challenge of your life?”

StoryFile offers a “high fidelity” version where a historian interviews the person in a professional studio. However, there is also a more affordable option that only requires a laptop and a webcam to get started.

Stephen Smith, co-founder of the platform, got his mother, Marina Smith, a Holocaust educator, involved in the project. At his funeral in July, his StoryFile avatar answered questions from attendees. To date, according to StoryFile, about 5,000 people have created profiles.

In both Solaris and AI applications for interacting with the deceased, the question arises: to what extent can we truly “reconstruct” a person from fragments of information, and how does this impact our relationship with grief and remembrance? ? This link between science fiction and current technological reality opens a deep conversation about the nature of memories, death, and the possibility—or the limit—of recreating the presence of those who are no longer here.