Ideas

The AI Companies Trying to Make Grief Obsolete

You can buy an AI version of your lost loved one. But should you?

First published in The Atlantic on February 1, 2026.

by Charley Burlock, The Atlantic

February 5, 2026 | reading time: 21 Min.

When Justin Harrison got the call in 2022 telling him that his mother would likely die within the day, he didn’t panic. He got on a plane to Singapore, where he was scheduled to present at a conference about his start-up, You, Only Virtual, a platform on which users can chat with AI versions of their dead loved ones, and which Justin believes can ultimately eliminate grief as a human experience. He learned about his mother’s death while flying over the Pacific.