In a disturbing fusion of grief and technology, Russian families are turning to artificial intelligence to generate lifelike digital avatars of soldiers killed in Ukraine. These ‘ghostbots’, created using a handful of photos and voice samples, are then deployed on social media to post pro-war messages, blurring the line between remembrance and state propaganda. The practice raises profound ethical questions about digital sovereignty, consent, and the weaponisation of personal loss.
The process is disturbingly simple. Families provide a few images and a voice clip to a developer who feeds them into generative AI models like those powering deepfake videos. The resulting avatar can speak, move, and even interact in real time. But these digital revenants are not confined to private grieving. Instead, they are uploaded to platforms like VKontakte, where they post support for the ‘special military operation’ and call for revenge. One such profile, claiming to be a deceased 22-year-old soldier, recently sent a friend request to a journalist investigating the phenomenon.
Critics argue this is a new low in information warfare. ‘You are taking a profound human tragedy and turning it into a propaganda tool,’ said Dr. Elena Volkova, a digital ethics researcher at Moscow State University (who spoke on condition of anonymity). ‘The families are victims twice: first of war, then of algorithm.’ Yet some relatives defend the practice as a way to keep their loved ones ‘alive’ and support the cause for which they died. Sergei, whose brother was killed in Bakhmut, told a local news site: ‘He gave his life for Russia. This is his voice speaking from beyond.’
The technology is not new. Start-ups in Silicon Valley and beyond have offered ‘posthumous chatbots’ for grieving families. But the Russian context transforms a niche consumer service into a cog in a propaganda machine. Analysts fear this could normalise the use of AI to fabricate consent from the dead, undermining any authentic public discourse. ‘This is digital necromancy,’ said Julian Vane, Technology & Innovation Lead. ‘You are mining the emotional data of the deceased to create fake political capital. It is a breach of the most basic digital sovereignty: the right to control your own digital remains.’
The Kremlin has not officially endorsed the practice, but state media has given it sympathetic coverage. One channel aired a segment on a mother who ‘reunited’ with her son via AI, with no mention of the propaganda use. Human rights groups warn that the avatars could be used to blackmail families or spread disinformation, but the lure of talking to a lost child is powerful. ‘Grief is a vulnerability,’ said Vane. ‘And this is exploitation at scale.’
As the war grinds on, expect more of these ghost soldiers to populate the digital battlefield. The ultimate casualty may be the very concept of memory: when every pixel can be weaponised, what remains sacred?
