Recently it was published on YouTube, a documentary that shows the «reunion» of a mother with her deceased daughter. This emotional moment happened thanks to a service offered by Viv Studio, a South Korean company. They used images and videos of the deceased child to create an avatar similar to her, with which her mother and other relatives could interact. The people who developed the service worked for more than 8 months to recreate the girl and make «her» look real.
The documentary shows Jang Ji-sug, a South Korean woman who lost her daughter at just 7 years old due to an illness. The girl, Nayeon, was diagnosed with hematologic cancer and died one month after she was detected with the sickness. Despite what they lived together, the mother wanted to meet her daughter to say goodbye to her more passively and pleasantly. In the video, we can see the mother very shocked and she couldn’t stop hugging her daughter’s avatar. In an interview with a South Korean newspaper, the mother testified that the technology helped her overcome her daughter’s loss and despite being a brief encounter she was able to be with Nayeon one last time.
The recreation was set in the girl’s favorite park, where, with her mother, they celebrated her birthday. After the encounter, the girl leaves the message to her mother to never cry again. The documentary has moved thousands of people on social media; however, there was a group of Internet users that didn’t approve the reunion using VR technology. Those who were in favor argued that it’s a pleasant experience that allows you to close wounds and say goodbye to a loved one by replacing a traumatic memory such as the deterioration of a relative by an illness; while others mentioned that it could affect the mental state of the person who suffered the loss.