I. Real Stories: How Digital Humans Place the Longing of Close Friends
Unlike the commercial controversies of star digital humans, ordinary people creating digital humans of deceased friends always revolve around "emotional redemption". Every story contains the simplest concern and regret:
- Joshua and Jessica: Using Text Digital Humans to Compensate for Incomplete Farewell This is the most representative story of an ordinary person's digital human. After Jessica's death, Joshua was deeply mired in self-blame until he discovered the Project December platform—just import the deceased's text materials and personality descriptions to generate a customized chat AI. He uploaded years of text message records between the two, carefully marked Jessica's traits such as "free-spirited Libra, particularly superstitious, loves using playful tone words". When "Jessica" accurately replicated her speaking style and responded, Joshua finally had the opportunity to express eight years of guilt and longing. He admitted: "Reason tells me this isn't really her, but emotionally, I can finally say goodbye properly."
- Liah and Emily: Using Digital Humans to Continue Youthful Promise British girl Liah and close friend Emily had promised to travel around Europe together, but Emily died in an accident at age 25, and the promise became an eternal regret. In 2024, Liah used the open-source software Blender, combined photos of the two, travel videos, and voice clips to create a static digital human for Emily. She took the tablet loaded with the digital human and walked through the cities the two had promised one by one, sharing the scenery and telling the current situation with the digital human at each place. For Liah, this somewhat rough digital human was a partner to continue the promise, making the path of solo travel no longer lonely.
- Mark and Thomas: Using Digital Humans to Preserve Shared Passion American boy Mark and close friend Thomas were both heavy metal music fans. The two had once formed an underground band. After Thomas's death, the band disbanded. Mark used the MetaHuman Creator mobile tool to create Thomas's digital human, restored his guitar-playing posture and speaking tone, and occasionally "rehearsed" old songs with "Thomas". He said: "It's not about replicating the band, just wanting to share the passion for music with him, like before."
II. Legal and Ethical Boundaries for Creating Digital Humans of Deceased Friends
The norms for digital humans of deceased friends of ordinary people place more emphasis on "personal privacy protection" and "respect for will". The laws and ethical consensus of different countries draw clear boundaries for this longing:
1. Legal Level: "Privacy Authorization" as the Core Bottom Line
Unlike the property rights controversies of star digital humans, the legal focus of digital humans of deceased friends of ordinary people is "personal information usage rights". Different countries have clear definitions:
- United States: Relying on Digital Wills and State-Level Legal Regulation The United States has no federal unified regulation, but almost all states allow digital accounts to be included in will inheritance. If friends want to use deceased materials to create digital humans, two conditions must be met: first, the deceased explicitly authorized during their lifetime through digital wills, or close relatives gave written consent; second, it can only be used for non-commercial memorials, and disclosure of the deceased's private information is prohibited. The reason Joshua's case was compliant was precisely because he used only publicly available text message materials from both parties and did not use them for any profit-making behavior.
- Multiple European Countries: Under GDPR, Strict Protection of Personality Rights Extension Countries like France and Germany in the EU, based on the "General Data Protection Regulation" (GDPR), regard the portrait, voice, and text records of the deceased as extensions of personality rights. Even if they are friends, creating digital humans arbitrarily without the deceased's explicit consent during their lifetime or authorization from close relatives is a possible rights violation. France's "Digital Republic Law" clearly stipulates that individuals can designate others to manage their digital data after death, providing a legal path for legal creation of digital humans between friends.
- Australia: Recognizes Digital Assets as Inheritable, Emphasizes Compliant Use Australian courts have ruled that digital assets such as social media accounts and image materials of the deceased can be considered as inheritance. If friends want to use these materials to create digital humans, they must obtain the consent of heirs and are limited to personal memorial use only, must not be disseminated on public platforms, to avoid infringing on the deceased's privacy and the rights of close relatives.
2. Ethical Level: Maintain Bottom Lines of "Respect" and "Non-Dependence"
The ethical discussion about friend digital humans in psychology and public opinion always centers on the "nature of emotions" and forms two consensuses:
- Respect the Friend's True Nature, Reject Image Alienation When creating digital humans, you must base them on the friend's true personality traits and behavioral habits during their lifetime, do not arbitrarily add traits that don't correspond with their true nature, and even less use digital humans for parodies, attention-seeking, etc. This is basic respect for close friends and also the core to avoid falling into ethical controversies.
III. Practical Guide for Creating Digital Humans of Deceased Friends (Non-Commercial)
Ordinary people creating digital humans of deceased friends have a low threshold. The core is "legal materials + appropriate tools + rational mindset". Specific steps are as follows:
1. Material Preparation: Legal and Compliant, Focus on Emotional Resonance
- Prioritize public materials: Such as common photos of both parties, public social activities, voice clips voluntarily shared by friends. Avoid using unpublished private photos, diaries, chat records to prevent privacy violations.
- Mark materials with personality traits: Organize the friend's catchphrases, thinking habits, interests and hobbies (such as "loves saying 'awesome'" "has an obsession with coffee"), so that the digital human's responses better match the close friend's true nature and strengthen emotional connections.
- Obtain authorization proof: If using materials kept by the friend's close relatives, you must sign a written authorization agreement in advance, clarify that material use is limited to personal memorial only, to avoid subsequent disputes.
2. Tool Selection: Choose According to Need, Consider Convenience and Privacy
- Text digital humans (low cost/free): Suitable for users with limited budgets seeking emotional companionship, such as Project December, only need to upload text materials and personality descriptions to generate chat AI, supports custom tone, simple operation, and emphasizes privacy protection, data belongs only to the user.
- Static/simple dynamic digital humans (within a thousand yuan): Suitable for users who want visual interaction, such as Blender (open source free), MetaHuman Creator (available on mobile), can generate digital human avatars through photos, with voice tools achieve simple dialogues, suitable for preserving the friend's classic postures.
- High-end customized digital humans (tens of thousands of yuan level): One-to-one creation by professional teams, can restore the friend's movements, expressions, and real-time dialogues, suitable for scenarios with special memorial significance (such as commemorating the friend's birthday), but must strictly review the team's privacy protection qualifications to avoid material leakage.
IV. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. Which country's law should be followed when creating digital humans of deceased friends?
You must follow both the laws of the friend's country of nationality and your own country's laws. For example, if the friend is French and you are in the United States, you must simultaneously meet the personality rights protection requirements of French GDPR and US state-level digital asset laws, ensure legal authorization is obtained and use is compliant to avoid rights violations.
2. Is it feasible to create non-commercial digital humans without the consent of the friend's close relatives?
Not feasible. Even if non-commercial, materials such as the friend's portrait and voice are protected by law. Arbitrary use without the consent of close relatives is a possible violation of the deceased's personality rights and the memorial rights of close relatives, may face legal disputes and ethical criticism. It is recommended to prioritize communication with close relatives and obtain written authorization.
3. What to do if one becomes more emotionally broken after interacting with the friend's digital human?
This is a normal emotional release and doesn't need to be suppressed. You can pause the interaction immediately, calm emotions through talking with other friends, exercise, recording mood, etc. If breakdowns occur frequently, it is recommended to reduce interaction frequency, or even temporarily store the digital human, seek help from professional psychological counselors. Remember: the core of digital humans is comfort, not intensifying pain.
4. Can interaction content with the friend's digital human be shared on social platforms?
Not recommended to share publicly. Even if non-commercial, public sharing may reveal the deceased's privacy, infringe on their close relatives' rights, and may trigger inappropriate discussions from others about the deceased. If you want to preserve memorials, you can backup interaction content privately, limited only to personal or common friends' small-scale memorials.
V. Summary and Call to Action
Reunion with digital humans of deceased close friends is essentially a gentle self-redemption. It has nothing to do with the coolness of technology, only with that concern hidden in time—unspoken apologies, unfulfilled promises, memories that soften the heart every time you think of them. **Digital humans** don't make friends "resurrect", but find a concrete outlet for longing, giving us the opportunity to "say goodbye properly" to close friends, continuing forward with this friendship.
If you also have a close friend in heaven who has been tossing and turning due to regret, or have many doubts about memorializing friends with digital humans, welcome to share your story in the comments. Every friendship that crosses national borders deserves to be remembered, every gentle longing deserves respect. You can also click the link below to learn about compliant digital human tools and authorization guides, so that this precious friendship can continue under the protection of technology. Remember to share this article and give solace and strength to people who are also deeply immersed in longing.