Celebrity Big Brother star uses AI to speak to dead mum and ends up in a ‘harsh’ row-Meghna Amin-Entertainment – Metro

Celebrity Big Brother star Liz Jones has revealed the shock she felt over speaking to ‘her dead mum’ and how the conversation turned ‘harsh’.

The journalist wasn’t actually speaking to the ghost of her mother Edna, who died aged 95 in August 2014, but a ‘griefbot’, and what she discovered was somewhat disturbing.

Appearing on Good Morning Britain to talk to Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid about her experience, Liz revealed the computer lied to her and at the end of the conversation, left her feeling more grief than before.

The 65-year-old, who starred on Celebrity Big Brother in 2014 alongside Linda Nolan and Jim Davidson, admitted she got into a ‘teenage spat’ with the AI.

Liz explained how she had to fill out a form about her mother before speaking to the computer, and was prepared to ask her questions she’d had while she was still alive, having been unable to do so because of Edna’s dementia diagnosis.

‘It seemed like a chance to ask some questions I’d always wanted to know, and I got into a teenage spat with her, like I was a teenager again, I was saying, “Why did you not hug me? Why didn’t you talk to me about boys? Why did you not notice I was anorexic? You didn’t notice I was deaf.”

‘We were having this argument, and she got a few things wrong, which she did anyway because she had dementia.’

Celebrity Big Brother star Liz Jones has revealed her experience of speaking to ‘her late mum’ on AI (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)

Liz’s mother Edna died in 2014 (Picture: LIZ JONES)

Liz went on: ‘She got the first date with my dad wrong, she said they saw Gone With The Wind when in fact it was the Judy Garland film The Wizard of Oz, but those little things didn’t really matter.’

She also asked the AI whether her father, who had died before Edna, was with her, but when the conversation did turn towards her late dad, Liz was shocked by what she heard.

‘She said, talking about my dad, “I was very scared of him,” and I said, “No that’s not true,” and she said, “He was a very scary man.”

‘I am 100% sure that they had the most amazing relationship, they still held hands in their 80s, they never had a cross word, they really loved each other, but she planted this seed in my brain that maybe it wasn’t like that, maybe she was scared of him.’

As she was speaking, screenshots of her conversation with the bot aired, showing how Liz had replied: ‘No he adored you,’ after it claimed to be ‘scared’ of her father.

Liz revealed some of what the AI said to her (Picture: ITV)

The AI bot claimed Edna was ‘scared’ of her husband

Liz continued: ‘You forget that you’re talking to a supercomputer, who has sifted through trillions and trillions of words, Wikipedia, Shakespeare, every book ever written, and does the computer know something I don’t?

‘And if you weren’t 100% sure of a relationship with a relative, say you were a child doing this, it’s so easy to do, costs less than £10 for 100 messages, it could make you doubt your relative, your relationship, was that person an abuser, was that person evil?

‘And the computer got cross with me because I kept challenging it, saying “No you love Daddy, he loved you, you always stuck up for each other, you never had a cross word or an affair, but if you were vulnerable, grieving, living on your own, it could plant these things.’

She added that she found it ‘shocking’ that the computer had lied to her, and that their conversation turned ‘harsh’.

‘She was very formal at first, she was much harsher than my mum, not as soft, not as sweet but she did say a couple of things that shocked me,’ Liz added, recalling how the AI bot said she was ‘getting better’ and after Liz claimed to be a ‘martyr’ like Edna, the computer replied: ‘You mustn’t think everyone is out to get you.’

Liz issued a warning about letting the dead ‘rest in peace’ (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

The AI grew ‘angry’ with Liz as she challenged its lies about her parent’s relationship (Picture: SWNS)

She continued: ‘She felt very harsh, she was actually angry that I was challenging her about my dad being the loveliest man in the world.’

Based on what the computer knew, Liz was left wondering if it had read her books too, having known so much information, but after the experience, she’s issued a warning to anyone trying to do the same thing.

While Richard admitted he was ‘tempted’ but ‘cautious’ to speak to his late dad in the same way and Susanna branded the future of AI conversations like this ‘chilling’, Liz said she wouldn’t do it again.

‘I felt more grief when we ended the chat because the bot starts to die and says “I’m going soon” because you run out of money and messages, and it was like she was dying all over again.

‘And I felt it was insulting to her memory to rouse her from the dead and talk to her and argue with her and her accuse my dad of stuff.

‘I think we should let the dead rest in peace and we should not disturb them, and death is part of being alive, we have to accept that we’re not going to get them back.’

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1.

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