Daily Junction.mobi portal<figure class="align-left zoomable"> <a aria-label="Zoomable image" href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/750851/original/file-20260729-71-u8x394.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A sepia photograph showing a classic ghost-in-a-sheet figure" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/750851/original/file-20260729-71-u8x394.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/750851/original/file-20260729-71-u8x394.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=810&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/750851/original/file-20260729-71-u8x394.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=810&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/750851/original/file-20260729-71-u8x394.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=810&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/750851/original/file-20260729-71-u8x394.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1018&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/750851/original/file-20260729-71-u8x394.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1018&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/750851/original/file-20260729-71-u8x394.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1018&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a> <figcaption> <span class="caption">A spectre (from an album of doppelgängers and spectres, early 1900s), artist unknown.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Rylands Research Institute and Library</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span> </figcaption> </figure>
<p>There are concerns and studies discussing both the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-023-09995-2">ethics of AI griefbots</a> and the impact that these <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-022-00417-x">services may have</a> on the grieving process. Issues of <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/ethiquepublique/10161?lang=en">consent are a key consideration</a>. Where Victorian mediums represented the deceased through words and actions, griefbots are a recreation of a person’s life based off their data. These concerns are lessened when the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-024-00744-w">deceased has pre-consented</a>, but not for those that are created by living loved ones.</p>
<p>In a way reminiscent to followers of spiritualism continuing to pay to attend séances, the subscription nature of some of these AI systems keep the bereaved coming back. This raises a concerning question: are you losing your loved one again if you cancel the subscription? The onus lies with the living users to be able to know when they have grieved enough. </p>
<p>Similar concerns were raised over exploitation by spiritualists of their patrons when they were most vulnerable. English author <a href="https://www.atmostfear-entertainment.com/culture/traditions/exposing-mediumship-in-nineteenth-century-america/">M. E. Darby</a> wrote his 1888 book <a href="https://pdf.core.ac.uk/corefilesystem/pdf/10942/552451494.pdf?se=2026-07-08T15%3A38%3A31Z&sp=r&sv=2026-06-06&sr=b&rscd=inline%3B%20filename%3D%22552451494.pdf%22&rsct=application/pdf&sig=l/CQgFRDWX1T/zlxuZRIncUjtI7sCmRydtds7XldGpM%3D">An Investigation of Modern Spiritualism: An Exposé</a> “a warning and guide to the innocent and over-credulous young men”, who were “a ready prey for the unscrupulous and inhuman professional practitioner of legerdemain, who cruelly, out of the most tender ties, feelings, and emotions of human bosoms, make a harvest and find a ready spoil”. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable"> <a aria-label="Zoomable image" href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/750852/original/file-20260729-57-y21z14.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Black and white photo of Harry Houdini in a full suit." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/750852/original/file-20260729-57-y21z14.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/750852/original/file-20260729-57-y21z14.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/750852/original/file-20260729-57-y21z14.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/750852/original/file-20260729-57-y21z14.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/750852/original/file-20260729-57-y21z14.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1185&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/750852/original/file-20260729-57-y21z14.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1185&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/750852/original/file-20260729-57-y21z14.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1185&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a> <figcaption> <span class="caption">Harry Houdini in 1913.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harry_Handcuff_Houdini_Crop.jpg">Campbell-Gray, Ltd.</a></span> </figcaption> </figure>
<p>Concerns over the financial exploitation of the spiritualism movement were still being raised in the early 20th century by the illusionist <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/for-harry-houdini-seances-and-spiritualism-were-just-an-illusion-180978944/">Harry Houdini</a>, who <a href="https://lorenwoodcuts.medium.com/houdinis-fight-against-spiritual-fraudsters-f7c7c465359f">tried to expose frauds</a>. One of <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/harry-houdini-skeptic-spirits-mediums-fraud">Houdini’s earliest acts</a>, with his wife Bess, had been a séance show through which Houdini became familiar with the ways in which a medium could deceive their audience. By the 1920s, <a href="https://www.all-about-psychology.com/houdini.html">he used his reputation to demonstrate</a> how electrical wires created floating objects, how mediums used their feet to ring bells, and other tricks immediately familiar to a fellow magician. </p>
<p>Houdini’s scepticism of spiritualism led to him promising that upon his death, if possible, he would return on a set date and <a href="https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2020/10/hollywood-houdini-and-the-halloween-seance-of-1936/">give his widow Bess a code phrase</a> to identify himself. No such contact was made. </p>
<p>The rise of grief tech, with its parallels to spiritualism, confirms one consistency in the human condition: a desire to minimise the pain of loss. While understandable, the latest advancements add a confusing twist to the process and psychology of grief, without data currently available to better understand the long-term impact. Until we have better clarity, and have navigated the ethics more thoroughly, we should consider closing the parlour doors on grief tech.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/287001/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p>
<p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jessica-lloyd-may-1541013">Jessica Lloyd May</a>, Research Assistant in History and Folklore, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-nottingham-1192">University of Nottingham</a></em></span></p>
<p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-grief-tech-is-reimagining-victorian-spiritualism-287001">original article</a>.</p> </div>