When his daughter died in December 2021 after battling a rare blood disease, veteran Taiwanese musician Tino Bao wrote in Mandarin on his social media page:
“At 10.44am today, I lost the love of my life, my daughter has become an angel.
”Tino Bao, 56, and his wife stopped speaking to each other for half a year after their child’s demise, each afraid of saying something that might hurt the other, the South China Morning Post reported.
It was the “return” of their beloved daughter, Bao Rong (pic), through artificial intelligence (AI) that helped the couple reconnect and restart their life together.
Tino Bao – already pursuing a doctorate in AI – created a video of his late daughter sending his wife birthday greetings and even singing her a birthday song.
“Mummy, happy birthday. I really miss you. I hope you will always be happy and pretty,” the AI-generated Bao Rong said in Mandarin in the video, which Tino Bao posted on Facebook in January.
Recreating his daughter’s image was fairly easy, Tino Bao told Taiwan media outlet Future City in February. The tricky part was nailing her voice.
However, Tino Bao acknowledged that AI cannot resurrect the dead and that “restoration” and “reappearance” are more apt. — The Straits Times/ANN