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Thanks For Asking

AI Deadbots Want To Cure Your Grief

Thanks For Asking

Feelings & Co.

Mental Health, Society & Culture, Personal Journals, Health & Fitness

4.713.5K Ratings

🗓️ 31 March 2026

⏱️ 58 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As long as people have been grieving, we have found a way to memorialize our dead people. We grievers keep voicemails, photos, letters, clothes – whatever we can to remember our people. With the rise of AI, it’s no wonder companies desperate to increase their shareholder value have turned to us, the grievers. But it’s not our money they want (or at least, not JUST our money) – it’s our dead people. Their voices, their words, their likeness. They want to reanimate our people, just without their bodies and souls.  A few months ago, I read an incredible article in The Atlantic, titled The AI Companies Trying To Make Grief Obsolete. I knew it was something I NEEDED to talk about, and it just so happened that the author, Charley, was willing to talk to me and share the story of her big brother, Ben, who passed unexpectedly in 2014.  Grief is not a problem to be solved. It is a part of life. A part that we need. Read more about AI deadbots here or here. My 2016 piece in Slate is here. _ Watch us on YouTube here! Get this episode ad-free here! Listen to Geoffrey’s album on Spotify and Apple! _ Refresh your spring wardrobe with Quince. Go to Quince.com/TFA for free shipping and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too. Go to Quince.com/TFA for free shipping and 365-day returns. Quince.com/TFA Shop Everyday Cotton, and all of my favorite bras and underwear, at SKIMS.com. After you place your order, be sure to let them know we sent you! Select "podcast" in the survey and be sure to select our show in the dropdown menu that follows. MasterClass keeps adding new classes, so there’s never been a better time to get in. Right now, as a listener of this show, you get at least 15% off any annual membership at MASTERCLASS.com/TFA. That’s 15% off at MASTERCLASS.com/TFA. Head to MASTERCLASS.com/TFA to see the latest offer! Experience your juiciest and deepest sensual experience with a bottle of Foria. FORIA is offering a special deal for our listeners. Get 20% off your first order by visiting foriawellness.com/TFA OR use code TFA at checkout. That’s F-O-R-I-A WELLNESS DOT COM FORWARD SLASH TFA for 20% off your first order. I recommend trying Awaken or their Pleasure Set with all three of their best sellers. With evening and weekend course options, Fordham’s online MSW lets you keep working while earning your degree, completing the program in as few as 16 months. Learn more and apply at fordham.edu/TFA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Bowser is back.

0:02.0

Ha ha!

0:03.0

Bouser!

0:04.0

Everyone calm down!

0:08.0

The Super Mario Brothers can take care of the kingdom.

0:11.0

Let's go!

0:13.0

On April 1st, Toad, pack our things.

0:16.0

The galaxy is waiting.

0:20.0

Who is this? Who is this?

0:21.6

So some cool dinosaur just shows up and he's now part of the group.

0:25.4

Cool.

0:26.0

The Super Mario Galaxy movie, only in cinema's April 1st. In November 2014, Charlie Burlock was a junior in high school.

0:45.3

She was a daughter. She was a friend, and she was a little sister to her big brother, Ben.

0:50.5

Being a sister was my primary identification. My brother was always like the most important person in my life.

0:56.3

And I was like low-key obsessed with him.

0:58.0

I'm still obsessed with him, but in a different way.

1:00.6

Charlie was 17 years old when Ben died.

1:03.5

He was just 20.

1:05.5

11 years after the death of her brother, Charlie published an article in the Atlantic

1:10.1

titled The AI Companies

1:11.9

Trying to Make Grief Obsolete. I read this article. I loved this article. I couldn't stop thinking

1:18.5

about this article. We are no strangers to the topic of grief here at Thanks for asking,

...

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