Recently, 31-year-old Bloomberg data management professional Tori McCun used ChatGPT to write a eulogy for her father, who passed away, as reported by ABC News.

Although McCun's sisters received a good reaction, they voiced discomfort with using a non-human creature during such a private time, pointing to a larger societal issue.

With over 100 million weekly users as of right now, ChatGPT has seen a rise in popularity, according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

But worries about the generative AI tool's unrestricted internet access continue, prompting fears about identity theft and possible exposure to misleading material.

Efficiency vs. Authenticity

People who use ChatGPT for emotive messaging claim that it relieves some of the burden of coming up with eloquent remarks in critical circumstances.

Even personalized AI solutions have surfaced to help with writing personal letters, such as vows at marriage.

According to research from Israel's Bar-Ilan University, receivers may be less likely to accept AI-generated apologies since they don't think they are as genuine.

This belief about AI's inability to handle sensitive tasks may also apply to other types of messaging, such as funeral eulogies and wedding vows.

According to research co-author Omri Asscher, AI's work is "perceived to be faulty in terms of its moral authenticity."

Some people, like Melissa Buckley from Reading, Pennsylvania, support the usage of ChatGPT despite the criticism by highlighting how the tool's results rely on the user's involvement and effort.

Expert in ethics Andrea Lynch advises customers to customize AI-written drafts with their speech patterns.

She offers eulogy-writing kits along with guidance on using generative AI.

York University Philosophy Professor Alice MacLachlan acknowledges that generative AI like ChatGPT can be helpful for less-fluent writers to better express emotions, but it could be a source of tension between relatives.

Human Traits, Skills Cannot Be Replaced by AI

Renowned leadership speaker Francis J. Kong encourages executives to utilize ChatGPT strategically, highlighting how technology may take the place of tedious activities and free up time for innovative projects.

From his vantage point, AI improves productivity. He argues in his article in the Philippine Star that successful people possess certain traits that AI cannot replicate. Read more

• Quincy Jon is a writer for Tech Tmes

Prowling the front of a cavernous church with a wireless microphone, a local comedian and radio personality had mourners laughing uproariously with his remembrances of the dearly departed.

Hundreds of people packed St. John Catholic Church in Jackson for Richardson's funeral, and they all had the same reaction.

"Wasn't that a great funeral?" they said. "Timm would have loved it." Read More

A February 2 decree from Archbishop Terrence Prendergast states Catholics gather at funerals "not to praise the deceased, but to pray for them".

Contrary to popular belief, eulogies "are not part of the Catholic funeral rites, particularly in the context of a funeral liturgy within Mass," the decree added.

Many Catholics, it added, do not know this.

The archbishop credited this to the high number of Ottawa Catholics attending non-Catholic funerals, as well as the eulogy-laden "funerals of public figures".

The Church's objection to eulogies at Catholic funerals is that they are secular speeches designed to offer "high praise" to the dead "without reference to God or to faith," according to the Ottawa decree.

Ottawa priests are "strongly" urged to encourage Catholics to speak publicly about loved ones outside the Mass — at funeral homes, receptions, or in a parish hall.

In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., Archbishop Prendergast conceded that eulogies at Catholic funerals "had crept in" but that "technically, the books that guide us don't allow them".

However, Archbishop Prendergast said the Church was facing increasing pressure from families to have more, and even multiple, eulogies at funerals.

To that end, a compromise was reached.

The decree permits "words of remembrance" to be delivered, but with three conditions.

They must be spoken at the beginning of the liturgy; must be one page of text taking three to four minutes to read, with mention of the deceased's "life of faith"; and they should be read from a place other than where Scriptures are proclaimed.

Sources

• Religion News Service
• National Post
• Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
• Image: Canada.com