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Should your kids keep talking to Grandma after she dies?
Published about 8 hours ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader,
For all of human history, death has been final. AI is about to make it feel optional.
Last year, an app called 2wai released a promotional video. It opens with a pregnant woman calling an AI version of her late mother for parenting advice. Then it fast-forwards: the AI grandmother reads bedtime stories to her grandchild, and years later gives advice to her adult grandson.
All of it was generated from three minutes of video recorded before she died.
The video got over 22 million views, and much of the reaction was horror, but the horror didn't stop the technology. There's now an entire industry being built around what's called grief tech: startups recreating the voices, faces, and personalities of people who have died, so the living never have to say goodbye.
But before you think "nobody in my church would ever do that," the data says otherwise. Interacting with the deceased just appeared on the list of the most popular uses of AI, and it wasn't on the list the year before.
Except, grief isn't something we're supposed to bypass, and you cannot remove the centrality of death from the Christian gospel. Jesus died, Jesus rose, and death isn't a side note to our story... it's the hinge of it.
So what happens to a person when closure never comes? When instead of attending a funeral, they just open an app?
AI Is Trying to Erase Death. Here's Why Christians Should Be Concerned
Watch the full video here ↓
In this video, I tell a story from my early ministry that I've never been able to shake. Two teenage boys, a canoe, and a funeral that didn't happen for twenty years. What that family taught me about grief is the clearest answer I have to what AI resurrection threatens to take from us.
I also walk through what pastors and church leaders can actually do about this now, before someone in your congregation is already subscribed.
Season 6 of The Chosen begins the powerful journey to the cross. Your church can host an Early Access screening of the first episode of the season for free between September 15–November 14. Provide your people and your community with a meaningful and memorable experience.
Reader, the church has been helping people walk through the valley of the shadow of death for two thousand years. Nobody is better positioned for this moment.
Cheering for you,
P.S. If someone you love is grieving right now, this video is not a rebuke, it's the opposite... their longing to hear that voice again is deeply human. The question is what we do with it.
Carey Nieuwhof Communications, PO Box 160, Oro Medonte, Ontario L0L 2X0
Carey Nieuwhof
Where 100,000+ leaders get top insights to thrive in life and leadership.
Don’t settle for an impact smaller than you’re called to make. It's time to unlock your potential and lead confidently into a future filled with growth — for yourself, your church, and your mission. Get access to some of my best leadership content, only published in my newsletters.
