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  Created: July 2025




This speculative design project asks: What if, in 2100, we outsourced grief to artificial intelligence?


Through research into grief, mourning traditions, and how they are reshaped by climate change, digitalization, and globalization, the project investigates how grief itself becomes more layered, diffuse, and entangled with societal change — harder to process, harder to express.




Drawing on cultural contrasts between American market-driven individualism and Chinese collectivism shaped by state-led traditions, it imagines two possible worlds — one shaped by American individualism and the rise of commercialized self-care, the other by Chinese collectivism and state-guided rituals.







In the US

grief becomes part of a personalized self-care routine. Al companions guide individuals through spiritual-tech rituals, memory preservation, and emotional recovery — gently packaged and subtly commercialized.

In China

mourning is addressed through a state-supported Grief Holiday program. Al companions guide citizens through structured rituals that blend tradition, emotional therapy, and government-led care — restoring balance and preserving social.










At the center of both scenarios is a wearable AI grief companion — a speculative technology designed to monitor emotional states, support memory processing, and mediate the grieving experience in ways shaped by cultural norms. One of its core functions is memory reconstruction, rooted in research on memory reconsolidation and Targeted Memory Reactivation (TMR). During sleep, the AI companion subtly influences how memories are recalled and reshaped, helping individuals process loss.









Temple


In the US scenario, the device is called Temple — a name that evokes a sacred space for personal reflection and emotional healing. 
The circular-shaped logo symbolizes the act of breaking the vicious cycle many grieving individuals find themselves in and opening a path toward healing.





YUN 云
*(Yún) = cloud

In the Chinese scenario, the device is called Yun — meaning “cloud” in Chinese, reflecting both cultural symbolism and the idea of collective connection. The logo combines a soft, flowing form with the subtle silhouette of a woman’s face, referencing Guānyīn, the Chinese goddess of compassion, to convey care, remembrance, and shared healing.










The visual storytelling direction uses AI-generated imagery to reflect each scenario’s cultural and emotional context. By leveraging region-specific AI tools the project creates visuals that resonate with the aesthetic and cultural nuances of each future world.
In the Chinese scenario, a specially designed Joss paper — inspired by traditional aesthetics and a cultural survey with Chinese participants — symbolizes the blending of heritage and future mourning practices. Traditionally used to honor ancestors, the Joss paper offering becomes a collective ritual act, supported by AI, that helps preserve memories and guide communal grief in a state-led context.







In the US scenario, a memory reconstruction animation visualizes how AI supports grief processing during sleep. Created with TouchDesigner, the dream-like projection onto a pillow symbolizes the subtle reshaping of memories. It represents a deeply personal, subconscious journey through loss.