Startups working in the death tech or grief tech industry have designed different approaches that enable users to communicate with the dead, via text, video, audio, or photorealist avatars. The technology represents a recent shift from photography to artificial intelligence as a tool for remembering the deceased.

Ginger Liu is the founder of Hollywood’s Ginger Media & Entertainment, a writer and researcher on technology and entertainment, an MFA photographer and filmmaker, and host of the podcast The Digital Afterlife of Grief.

The rise of posthumous AI avatars represents a major shift in how technology interacts with death. What began as memorial tools allowing loved ones to interact with digital recreations of the deceased has evolved into an expanding commercial industry. The digital afterlife market is expected to quadruple in the next decade, reaching $80 billion, driven by advances in avatar technology.

Ginger Liu MFA is the founder of Hollywood’s Ginger Media & Entertainment, a writer and researcher on technology and entertainment, a multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker, and host of the podcast The Digital Afterlife of Grief.

OpenAI Targets Hollywood with AI Films as New Investment

Warner Bros. sues AI company Midjourney for copyright infringement

The global AI avatar market

Anthropic agrees to pay $1.5 billion in copyright settlement

The global AI avatar market was valued at $7.41 billion in 2024. It is expected to grow from $9.78 billion in 2025 to $118.55 billion by 2034.

OpenAI is making its Hollywood debut by backing Critterz, an animated feature largely created with artificial intelligence.

Ginger Liu MFA is the founder of Hollywood’s Ginger Media & Entertainment, a writer and researcher on technology and entertainment, a multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker, and host of the podcast The Digital Afterlife of Grief.