Doing Right by the Digital Dead - Day 1

Doing Right by the Digital Dead - Day 1

What do we owe the dead when digital technologies can preserve their traces, reproduce their likenesses, and make them appear to speak again?

The Doing Right by the Digital Dead is a two-day workshop which examines the ethical significance of digital representations of the deceased. The central questions are not merely about what technology permits, but about what it is permissible for us to do with the traces of those who are no longer here to answer for themselves. What becomes of consent after death? What is the relation between a deceased person and the digital representation constructed from their remains? And when an AI system appears to restore a dead person’s voice, personality, or agency, what exactly has been restored?

The first day brings together four papers addressing these questions from different directions. The discussion ranges from interactive AI and simulated memory to consent, identity, representation, and the norms governing our treatment of the dead.

Monday, 31 August 2026
6:00–9:00 pm Melbourne (AEST)
4:00–7:00 pm Singapore & Taipei (SGT/CST)

10:00 am–1:00 pm Netherlands (CEST)

Monday, 31 August 2026

6:00-6:45 pm Melbourne (AEST): Vipra Chopra - Raised by Ghosts: Interactive AI and the Simulated Phantom Memory Field

6:45-7:30 pm Melbourne (AEST): Alexandre Erler - Reanimating the Dead: Consent, Identity, and Digital Spokespersons

7:30-8:15 pm Melbourne (AEST): Adam Buben - Don’t Fuck with the Dead: Prostitution Regulation as a Model for Protecting the Digital Deceased

8:15-9:00 pm Melbourne (AEST): Lucy Osler - Fantasies of the Dead

Each presentation will run for up to 30 minutes, followed by at least 15 minutes of questions and discussion.

Day 2 of the workshop will take place on Friday, 4 September 2026 (https://philevents.org/event/show/152817)