Can technology bring the dead back to life? — On AI, grief and digital afterlife

Allan Køster asks what new technology and artificial intelligence do to our relationship with grief and death. What does it mean when the dead no longer only live on in our memories, but can also answer back through the use of artificial intelligence, as digital avatars?
What does it do to the relationship with and memory of the deceased? Is it even possible to recreate the feeling of a person's presence digitally. If not, why?
Is it about comfort, illusion, love, disturbance — or something else entirely? And how do we maintain a human and ethical language about loss, memories, and hope in a time when technology is moving closer to the most vulnerable aspects of our lives?
Allan Køster is a senior researcher at the National Center for Grief, holds a Master's degree in Philosophy, and a Ph.D. He researches grief as a lived experience and the ways people continue to live with loss, longing, and relationships with those they have lost.
Human in an Artificial Age At Eliaskirken, we gather for a lecture series titled Meaning, Faith & Ethics about the questions that shape our lives, our communities, and our way of being human. In 14 lectures in the autumn of 2026, we focus on artificial intelligence. AI is no longer just a technological phenomenon of the future.
It is already part of our everyday lives, our language, our work, our relationships, our imaginations, and our choices.