Thanks to AI, Charlie Kirk Will Never Die for Some People

There really is no rest for the wicked. Over the weekend, according to Religious News Service, at least three churches played for their congregations a posthumous message from Charlie Kirk, in which he assured those in the pews, “I’m fine, not because my body is fine, but because my soul is secure in Christ. Death is not the end, it’s a promotion.â€

Of course, it wasn’t actually Kirk speaking from his spot in the afterlife. It was an AI-generated clip that, prior to getting played in these houses of worship, made the rounds on social media. The audio appears to have originated on TikTok, generated by the user NioScript, who posted the 51-second message a day after Kirk was killed. It has since garnered millions of listens, shared by users who record themselves reacting and crying as they hear the AI-generated message. All of that eventually led to the audio getting played in churches like Prestonwood Baptist in Texas, where it is introduced by Pastor Jack Graham as AI—but as something that “moved†him and that he is sharing so his congregation can “Hear what Charlie is saying regarding what happened to him this past week.â€

It is, again, not what Charlie Kirk is saying. But that has not stopped people from talking to it as if it were real. Members of Prestonwood Baptist gave the video a standing ovation. Audiences of Dream City Church in Arizona and Awaken Church, San Marcos, in California, both of which ran the clips, also applauded, as pointed out by Religious News Service. Users on social media have responded to the audio with captions and comments like “This is exactly what Charlie would say if he could talk to us right now,†or “I know it’s AI but you can’t tell me this isn’t exactly what he’d say.â€

This type of coping with the feeling of loss is not totally unique. People have always sought to remember and preserve the people they love after they pass, and technology has facilitated new ways to achieve that, whether it is an endless stream of photos that spark memories or the person’s online presence turned into a digital memorial. In the world of bereavement literature, these are often referred to as continuing bonds. In that way, an AI-generated audio clip or video of someone like Kirk isn’t all that different from sharing stories about him to keep his memory alive.

It is different in that it’s a complete fabrication. It’s not a memory, which can also be faulty, but an invention from whole cloth. Yes, it may have access to Kirk’s words, likeness, and voice, all of which are omnipresent on the internet. But it is, as a large language model, incapable of doing anything but trying to autofill the void for the grieving.

Creating an AI-replicated version of a deceased person to aid in the grieving process is a growing industry. A recent article in Nature highlights several efforts to better understand if chatbots trained on a loved one’s likeness can help the grieving work through the complex and intense feelings that come with loss. While there is some evidence to suggest users of “griefbots†have managed to find some internal sense of closure with their lost loved ones, there are real risks of harming people in a fragile emotional state, including making it hard to let go of the bot version of the person.

There is also the very real worry that we simply aren’t able to differentiate between our real memories of a person and AI-generated ones that are implanted in our minds through these types of interactions. A study conducted by MIT Media Lab found that exposing a person to even a single AI-edited image can affect a person’s memory, and people exposed to AI-generated images “reported high levels of confidence in their false memories.â€

The reality for the people who are memorializing Kirk this way is that the vast majority of them don’t actually know him. They have a parasocial relationship with him that they would like to continue, and the AI message allows that to happen because it, in their minds, captures his voice—or, maybe more accurately, captures what they want to hear.

There is already plenty of ongoing debate about who exactly Charlie Kirk was and how he should be remembered without an AI-generated version of him injected into the conversation. But for people who are grieving his loss, should they believe that there is any part of Kirk’s soul living in that AI voice, perhaps just let it rest.