There's a company that can make you immortal in the metaverse

Somnium Space is a virtual reality platform founded by Artur Sychov that functions as a metaverse in its own right, with its own economy, currency, games and social experiences. Recently, however, the company announced that it is working on a new feature: the "Live Forever" Mode. Basically, the platform will record data about the movements, appearance and conversations of users who want it to create a digital clone or "copy" of them that can speak and imitate the original person perfectly even after that person has died. The idea came to Sychov after the death of his father, which sparked a desire in him to give his children a way to talk to their deceased grandfather. Discovering the data collection capabilities of virtual reality did the rest: artificial intelligences can replicate the way we move our fingers, facial expressions, voice inflections. «We can take this data », Sychov explained to Vice, «and apply AI to it and recreate you as an avatar on your land parcel or inside your NFT world, and people will be able to come and talk to you,».

The idea sounds like something out of a Black Mirror episode, somewhere between Be Right Back and San Junipero, and it all becomes even more dystopian considering that Somnium Space has entered into a partnership with Teslasuit, a company that is developing a kind of haptic suit that can immerse the wearer in the metaverse even with the sense of touch, stimulating skin receptors. And above all, the "Live Forever" system of Somnium Space can apply updating to avatars continuing to improve the verisimilitude of these digital "ghosts" even years after the physical disappearance of the person. Obviously, the service will be fee-based even though, as a decentralized metaverse, Somnium Space does not collect data from its users because it is not interested in selling them - only those who want to can be registered and program their own immortal avatar. As for the ethical and legal issues arising from creating a digital clone of a deceased person in the metaverse, the company hasn't addressed many of the details yet - but it will surely have to when the new "Live Forever" feature is developed in a year or two.