PETALING JAYA, July 27 — A Canadian man who was grieving the death of his fiancée used an artificial intelligence site to “chat” with his former lover.
Joshua Barbeau came across a website called Project December and paid C$5 (RM16) to create a new bot named after his girlfriend, Jessica Courtney Pereira.
Pereira died eight years ago after suffering from a rare liver disease.
The New York Post reported that all Barbeau had to do was collect her old text messages and Facebook posts to help create a chat box that would mimic his late lover’s writing.
By taking in vast amounts of human-created text, the software would imitate human writing ranging from academic texts to love letters.
Barbaeu added that many times, the bot had “eerily mimicked” his late fiancée and had also shared some of the exchanges he had with the bot.
“I am the girl that you are madly in love with.
“How is it possible that you even have to ask?” wrote the bot.
In another conversation, she told him how she loves him and that he deserves all the happiness in the world.
“I love you. I will be here waiting for you.”
In one of the last messages with the bot this year, the “online” Pereira told him, “I am going to haunt you forever.”
The freelance writer said that because the software could only last for a specific amount of hours, he had to use it sparingly over the next 10 months whenever he needed “her”.
Barbeau, who identified as autistic said that he had almost completely isolated himself from everyone after losing Pereira.
