... believe it may take for somebody to start to feel their grief and to, um, touch it in a way that starts to make a connection.

That's a really legitimate point, and it's worth pointing out that in this study, it was like a short lab experiment.

We were really focused on what kind of conversational styles and approaches shou- should it take.

Um, the kind of questions you're raising would require, like, a longer term deployment, where if someone is using it for days, weeks, months.

Um, and we don't really feel comfortable doing that yet until we even know the basics of how should it talk with that person, and that's what this study tried to s- uh, address.

[laughs]

...

but what I can tell you is throughout the history of, like, like, throughout human history, we have seen people adopt technology at every single stage and remix it to find ways to connect with and honor and memorialize the dead.

I mean, have you studied this? Do they bring people solace?

Yeah.

So, opinions and experiences have changed.

So does it bring people solace? The answer is different in 2009 versus 2025.

When I first started this work and I was doing a big interview study, uh, people, I would tell them what I was doing and they have no idea what I was talking about.

By the end of my doctoral work, uh, everyone had the experience of an aunt who had died and had a Facebook memorial page.

So, people's exposure to this has really changed, and exposure seems to be the biggest factor that shapes how people feel about this.

In terms of best practices, do you have any advice for listeners around this?