Deadbot Ethics: A Review and Analysis of Current Research

• identifying the ethical principles that should govern the deadbot industry, • showing which of these principles are currently safeguarded by the EU AI Act, • reviewing and reporting on the state of academic research into those principles, and finally • exploring how to further ensure that deadbot applications and services conform to those principles. Chatbots are services that provide digital conversation companions, where end-users are often allowed to specify the appearance and behaviour of their chatbot friends. Deadbots use the same technology as chatbots, but their behaviour and appearance are based on those of a real person who is now deceased. The emergence of a deadbot industry raises many serious ethical issues and our objectives in this article are to (1) identify the ethical principles that should govern the deadbot industry, (2) show which of these principles are currently safeguarded by the EU AI Act, (3) review and report on the state of academic research into those principles and finally (4) explore how to further ensure that deadbot applications and services conform to those principles. Using Ryan and Stahl’s (2020) ethical principles for AI-system development and utilization as a framework, we employ a narrative literature review to identify the scope and extent to which current research has already studied these principles in relation to deadbots. Then we examine how the EU’s AI Act can partially mandate ethical deadbot development and utilization. Finally, we discuss what measures could be taken to ensure that the remaining ethical principles are also mandated.