Kirsi Helkala (Norwegian Defence U College) and Carl Leichter (Norwegian Defence U College) have posted “Deadbot Ethics: A Review and Analysis of Current Research” on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Chatbot services are a growing industry that provide digital conversation companions, where users are able to specify the appearance and behaviour of their chatbot friends. Deadbots use the same chatbot technology, but their behaviour and appearance are based on those of a real person who is now deceased.For our framework in this article, we will use the Ryan & Stahl (2020) ethical principles for AI system development and utilization. To identify the scope and extent to which current research has already studied the ethical principles related to deadbots, we start with a narrative literature review. Then we examine how the EU’s AI Act can partially mandate their ethical development and utilization. Finally, we discuss what measures could be taken to ensure that the remaining ethical principles are also mandated.