Can AI Help Create Meaningful Obituaries For Loved Ones?

It seems lately there have been so many deaths, losses and people going through something. When it comes to celebrities, it really does seem like things happen in threes. That might just be when we are paying attention to it, or maybe there really is something to that theory.

Get our free mobile app

This time, my issue comes in the form of an obituary. Recently my father passed away. My mother passed away 14 years ago. It doesn't seem like it was that long ago, but it really has been that long.

WRITING AN OBITUARY OR EULOGY

If you haven't had to go through this yet, lucky you. If you have, you probably had the same experience that we did. The funeral home asks a bunch of questions about the person's life, what they did, what they enjoyed, some nice memories of the, and so forth. Then, that turns into the obituary that you see online, in papers, and also on the funeral program that you get at the wake and/or funeral.

After this, when I read the obituary, for both of my parents, I did feel like it was good, but as probably everyone feels, there were a couple of things left out, or not properly introduced, or whatever it is. Mostly it was fine. Pick your battles, as they say.

HERE IS THE NEW TREND

Now, there is a new trend. This MIGHT be a good thing, or maybe not. I'm not sure how I feel about this. The trend is letting AI write the obituary for you. The reason I'm kind of on board with it is because you enter in the information that you would like. Then you ask it to write the obituary for the person. So, it could be more eloquent than what some people can write. If you aren't great at writing, like most people aren't awesome at it, it might be ok. Maybe you write too conversationally, like me, and AI lacks a personal touch.

YOU CAN CHANGE IT

You can read it after ChatGPT has finished with the obituary, you can also change words and phrases before it's published. Thats where the personal touch comes in. And it might be written better... or it might be one of those things that seems a little too formal.