As Jang Jisung stood crying in front of her daughter, she desperately wanted to hug her one last time.
Her daughter, Na-Yeon, offered comfort.
"Don't cry mummy."
The emotions Jisung felt were overwhelming.
She reached out to touch her daughter's face.
But her hands simply passed through.
This, after all, was not a real encounter.
Jisung's seven-year-old daughter had died three years prior due to an aggressive and rare disease.
Her likeness was being beamed through virtual reality.
"I just love you a lot," Jisung told her virtual daughter as the teary encounter ended.
"Goodbye."
Concerns of false hope
This moment was broadcast on Korean television almost five years ago, as part of a documentary called Meeting You, on Korean broadcaster MBC.
The premise was to give those grieving the loss of a family member the chance for a final farewell.
While the tech used in this example has now dated, at the time it was cutting edge.
"Even though the character felt somewhat different, the surroundings and these elements were created in a way that made it very immersive," Jisung recalls.
"I just thought of her as my daughter."
Years later, artificial intelligence is being used more and more to virtually reanimate the dead to help loved ones with grief.
And as the technology improves, these so-called "grief bots" are becoming easier, cheaper and much more convincing.
For some, like Jisung, using technology proved helpful, with the world seeming "lighter" after her virtual interaction.
But there are plenty of dangers too, with experts warning vulnerable people could become addicted to the technology as it offers false hope.
"One of the risks is that an individual may become dependent on the grief bot," said clinical psychologist Alessandra Lemma, from the University College London.
"You get seduced by the fact that it seems like it's like the old days. It's an illusion."
No chance to say goodbye
Jisung remembers her daughter as a bright, warm child with a strong personality.
On the day before Na-Yeon showed signs of illness, she was photographed at a swimming pool, with a bright, youthful smile.
The following day she fell ill with a fever.
At first, the sickness was mysterious but not overly alarming.
Local hospitals said there was no reason to be concerned.
"They didn't know the cause," Jisung recalls.
"At night she would have a fever, but when she took fever reducers, her condition would improve soon after, so she was fine."
But as the days rolled by, and the symptoms worsened, Jisung took her daughter to Seoul National University Hospital.
Just 10 days later, Na-Yeon was dead.
Doctors diagnosed her with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, a rare disease that leads to white blood cells attacking vital organs.
"I think we missed the golden time," Jisung said.
Na-Yeon's sudden death meant Jisung felt she never got a chance to say goodbye.
"I actually blamed myself a lot, thinking 'was she sick because I didn't do something?'," she said.
"On the last day, she was in so much pain that she was kicking the next bed, and even in the midst of that, I said 'don't kick the next person's bed'.
"I hate myself for that."
Jisung agreed to take part in the documentary some three years later, feeling she had processed the worst of her grief.
In the show's finale, broadcast in 2020, Jisung was filmed experiencing one final moment with her daughter.
The pair played games and even sang Happy Birthday, before Na-Yeon finally went to bed, said goodbye to her mum, and turned into a butterfly.
"Mum, we will always be together," the virtual daughter said.
Jisung felt strange after the experience, agreeing with her husband on the drive home that the virtual Na-Yeon did not really look like their actual daughter.
But it still felt real.
And the process was therapeutic.
"As time passed, I felt my heart becoming lighter and more comfortable."
[vid]Reanimating those who have gone
The ability to create people with artificial intelligence has boomed since the documentary aired.
Back then, the virtual reality characters took months to create, with actors stepping in to help guide the model's movements.
Technical and budgetary limitations also meant the model was largely scripted, instead of interactive.
Now, things could be much different, with more businesses across the world entering the space, taking advantages of technological advancements.
South Korean company DeepBrain AI is one such company.
It's main business is to make interactive AI models for businesses.
These completely artificial "humans" could be used to answer questions at a company help desk, or for hotel check-in procedures.
But four years ago, it started to use the technology to reanimate those who had passed away.
The first iteration of "Rememory" was completely interactive, with the members of the grieving family able to have entire conversations with an image of their loved one.
The interaction would happen at a special studio the company had set up.
"They would come here to actually talk with the deceased person and have the conversations they wanted to have," said DeepBrian AI business leader Lee Jeong Su.
To achieve a high level of accuracy, people would need to come into the studios before their death and record their audio and movements.
It simply proved too burdensome, customer interest waned, and the program was simplified.
"For elderly people, it's difficult for them to stand or sit in our studio for a long time," said the leader of Deepbrain AI's creative team, Park Yong Hoon.
"From our perspective, it's a costly part, so I think that's why it was difficult to proceed."
For the latest, simplified version of "Rememory," Deepbrian AI animates a photo or video, and mimic the person's voice to say a final farewell and comforting message.
The service costs about $1,000.
It's proven to be quite popular.
"The number of inquiries is about 30 to 40 per month," said Mr Lee.
"About 20-30 per cent of these actually go into production."
Educational and helpful but also open to abuse
Turning the dead into the living through artificial intelligence has most famously been used on celebrities for movies.
In these cases, the biggest concern is often the "uncanny valley", which is the feeling of unease people have when something appears almost human but not quite.
But when it comes to grief, the impact of bad AI is much more consequential.
"I think as human beings, we have always tried our very best to avoid painful feelings," said Dr Lemma.
"And loss is a very painful state of mind to be in."
While the "Rememory" simulation may seem rather rudimentary, fully interactive "grief bots" have also emerged in recent years, thanks to an explosion in AI technology.
These bots can now scrape data much more efficiently than before, enabling them to convincingly mimic someone's mannerisms, voice, likeness and personality.
It's also becoming increasingly easy for anyone to create their own grief bot by simply feeding data into an existing AI program or platform.
Dr Lemma said she could imagine how grief bots could be helpful.
For example, a young child may learn more about a parent they lost at a young age, or it could help someone process loss that they've been unwilling to confront.
"Sometimes what happens with grief is that people are unable to grieve. They move on very, very rapidly, actually bypassing the grieving process," she said.
"I could imagine that engagement with a grief bot alongside a therapeutic process, might allow the person to reconnect with feelings that they have shut down."
The technology can also be educational.
In 2023, Holocaust survivor Inge Auerbacher featured in a virtual interactive experience that allowed users to ask questions about the Nazi concentration camps.
But the concern is how the technology ends up being abused, especially in spaces where it is unregulated.
"If this technology becomes easily available, is not that expensive, is advertised particularly to people who are likely to want to find ways of avoiding loss, then I can see it becoming more popular," Dr Lemma said.
"One of the risks is that an individual may become dependent on the grief bot."
And, of course, there is alarm how companies could reuse the data or likeness of someone without consent.
Deepbrain AI maintains it has strict privacy rules but understands there are mixed opinions about the technology.
It said it was important to approach the business with a sense of kindness, with counselling provided as part of the service.
"The emotion of sadness seems to be felt differently by everyone," creative leader Mr Park said.
"Not everyone wants this. And even among the people I know, there are those who find it very unpleasant."
AI helps to heal
Jisung was blown away at how her virtual interaction went viral.
She understands the mixed views on the technology.
"It's different for everyone, but I found it helpful," she said.
She draws parallels between seeing her virtual reality daughter and visiting someone's gravestone.
"Having the opportunity to do something like this, instead of holding onto feelings that could have become a sickness in my heart, I was able to unload them to the AI, which made things a bit lighter for me," she said.
"It was an unexpected healing of my wounds."
