By https://www.abc.net.au/news/benjamin-law/28552
Publication Date: 2026-03-14 19:24:00
Talking to someone who has died for the first time is a disturbing experience.
To be clear, I am not participating in a candlelit séance in a darkened room.
Instead, it’s a crisp, sunny afternoon on Bondi Beach as I speak to a woman named Barbara – who died in late 2023.
Barbara Horne died of Alzheimer’s two days before Christmas and two weeks before she and her husband Len were to celebrate their 56th wedding anniversary.
This Barbara I’m talking to now – let’s call her Digital Barbara – is a reconstructed AI version of her.
Using voice recordings, videos, photos and family history, it was transformed into a chatbot: something – or someone – with whom I can have a conversation in real time.
A digital resurrection
Today I am surrounded by Barbara’s family – husband Len; son Jeremy; daughter Jo; and grandchild Chase. Jeremy is the developer and brains behind Digital Barbara.
As the family’s documentary filmmaker, Jeremy has taken videos and photos of…
