AI Afterlives
Digital Memory and Synthetic Pasts
Will be published approx. on 9. July 2026
256 pages
978-1-350-43753-1 (ISBN)
Description
AI Afterlives offers the first empirically informed investigation of how algorithms and automation are being used to 'revive' media fragments from the past, from animating old photographs of our ancestors, to creating deathbots, or using the likeness of deceased actors in films. It draws on a series of unique and innovatively designed datasets to trace the ethical, emotional, mnemonic and political dimensions of creating synthetic pasts.
Situated at the intersection of Digital Memory, New Media and Critical Algorithm Studies, the book speaks to a range of pressing concerns about what futures our uses of AI will facilitate, what ethical challenges these systems suggest in the present, and how our relationship to the past is oriented and experienced.
Situated at the intersection of Digital Memory, New Media and Critical Algorithm Studies, the book speaks to a range of pressing concerns about what futures our uses of AI will facilitate, what ethical challenges these systems suggest in the present, and how our relationship to the past is oriented and experienced.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
15 bw illus, 7 tables
File size
4,01 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-350-43753-1 (9781350437531)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
approx. 08/2026
Bloomsbury Academic
€116.50
Not yet published
Persons
Jenny Kidd is a Reader at Cardiff University, UK.
Eva Nieto McAvoy is a Lecturer at King's College London, UK.
Eva Nieto McAvoy is a Lecturer at King's College London, UK.
Content
List of figures
List of tables
1. Introduction: Deep learning technologies and the future past
2. Synthetic media | Synthetic pasts
3. Genealogy platforms and AI afterlives
4. Deathbots and the platformisation of remembering
5. Datafied bodies on stage and screen
6. AI afterlives in the museum
7. Conclusion
8. Data coda
Bibliography
List of tables
1. Introduction: Deep learning technologies and the future past
2. Synthetic media | Synthetic pasts
3. Genealogy platforms and AI afterlives
4. Deathbots and the platformisation of remembering
5. Datafied bodies on stage and screen
6. AI afterlives in the museum
7. Conclusion
8. Data coda
Bibliography
