Overview
- After her son died in a road traffic accident, a Shandong family kept the news from his mother and commissioned an AI copy of him.
- The digital son now calls her daily on video, claims he is working in another city, and echoes his voice, dialect, and habits like leaning in when listening.
- Developer Zhang Zewei says his team built the replica from family photos, videos, and audio recordings to comfort the living.
- He also describes the work as deceiving people's emotions, and the mother in her 80s with heart disease remains unaware.
- Reports from Chinese and international outlets describe strong public reaction and frame the case as a revealing test of consent, grief care, and the rise of commercial AI replicas.