25 July 2025
Question
I am looking at creating a digital version of my late grandmother. I am gathering all of her text messages, voice notes and videos and feeding them into AI, which will create a life-like version of her. I will be able to have conversations, ask questions, and hear my grandmother’s voice again. What would the Torah say about that?
Answer
Your intentions are good, and your desire to see her again is understandable. But no one can replace your grandmother, including her digital double.
We are more than the sum of our text messages. Humans are spontaneous, original, and ever-changing. We have free choice. We have a soul. The unique spark inside each one of us can never be accurately simulated by technology.
Cherish the conversations that you did have with your grandmother. Let the memories remain as memories. As for the ongoing connection you seek, an AI bot can make you feel like you are in touch with your grandmother. But it is only one way. Your grandmother is not there.
However, there’s a different technology that can connect us with our dear departed relatives. It is a spiritual technology, not modern but as old as the world. It requires no device, and can work anywhere, anytime. It’s the power of a mitzvah.
When you do a mitzvah in honour of your grandmother, she feels it. When you say a prayer in memory of your grandmother, she is lifted by it. And when you ask your grandmother to stand by your side and send down strength from heaven, she hears it.
Death is not the end of life. It is the end of the body’s time on earth. The soul lives on in another realm, not visible to us, but accessible to us. Whenever we connect to our own soul, whenever we enter a more spiritually intuned state, we can commune with those souls who have moved on to the next world.
Do a mitzvah for your grandmother. Awaken your soul and elevate hers. Send her your love, and she’ll send hers back. Your soul connection lives on.
Next-gen tech will not revive previous-gen loved ones. Your mitzvah will.
