‘I’ve missed him a lot’: AI gives Hong Kong boy grieving for late brother chance to reconnect

Nine-year-old Hongkonger Morris Kwok Yat-chun has been engulfed in grief after losing his younger brother Yat-lai, who suffered from autoimmune disease and was struck with pneumonia, in 2020.

So Morris broke down in tears when he suddenly found himself interacting with a lifelike reproduction of Yat-lai, the work of a team of professionals using artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality technology.

“I’ve missed him a lot,” Morris said, adding that he wanted to play hide and seek, basketball and go swimming with Yat-lai in the virtual world.

Morris, whose parents enrolled him in grief management at a hospital, was one of the beneficiaries of the Dreams*2Gather programme run by the non-profit Love Our Kids Foundation, which helps young patients fulfil wishes that could be hindered by their physical or mental conditions.

With the help of volunteers, multiple start-ups and technology firms contribute their expertise to create AI versions of deceased loved ones, with family members of the beneficiaries also able to take part in the process.

His mother said the recreation was a chance to bring out the love Morris felt for his late brother.