Digital Immortality as a Human Service?: Assessing Student Attitudes and Tolerance Toward Digitalization of the Memory of the Dead

Journal of Technology in Human Services. 2026. Vol. 44. No. 2. P. 168–194.

Privezentseva M. K., Kirumina A. A., Eremeeva A. V., Mikhaylova O.

The emergence of interactive "digital copies" of the deceased, made possible by generative artificial intelligence, poses significant ethical and practical questions for the human services sector. This study investigates the attitudes of 404 Moscow university undergraduates (61% female; ages 18–27) toward these technologies. Through a survey conducted in Spring 2024, data were analyzed using factor and cluster analysis to identify key attitude patterns. Results reveal substantial resistance to digital immortality practices, with cluster analysis classifying 73.6% of students as "Intolerant" toward these technologies. Religiosity and death acceptance emerged as significant protective factors against adoption, while interpersonal relationships and death anxiety showed more variable associations. These findings signal that digital immortality is not a neutral tool but a potentially distressing intervention, raising critical ethical concerns for its use in human services. The widespread skepticism underscores the need for proactive policy development and practitioner guidelines to navigate this new frontier in bereavement support.

Keywords: digital immortality, Human services, grief technology, bereavement support, death attitudes