MemoAgent in the Press

45:40Opening

Danny Ropp: …from lookout points and benches to products in memory of their loved ones. But for Itay Prince, for whom nothing felt precise enough after his sister Hadar was murdered at the Nova festival on October 7, the answer came from an unexpected place: artificial intelligence tools that he learned and developed himself.

Itay founded MemoAgent, a site for interactive memorialization. The platform processes text messages, stories and a few minutes of voice recordings, and creates a digital character in a WhatsApp-like interface.

This is not an old message played again, but new answers to questions asked in real time, in the voice and style of someone who is gone.

46:15Introduction

Danny Ropp: Welcome, Itay Prince, founder of MemoAgent.

Thank you for being with us.

46:21About Hadar and October 7

Danny Ropp: Let's go back for a moment to that terrible day, October 7, three years ago today. A terror attack begins, we understand the party is there at Re'im, terrorists are approaching.

I understand that Hadar, of blessed memory, hid inside a garbage container, which we saw in many videos that circulated online, together with her friend Shira and other people.

Terrorists simply passed by and fired into the container, and that is how they murdered her, and I imagine her friends too.

Itay Prince: Yes, many hours after the attack began, in the end, after she tried to flee from place to place.

Danny Ropp: So she moved from place to place, and in the end hid there?

Itay Prince: Yes. She hid there for a few hours, as far as we know, and in the end they found her there too, and really… yes.

47:07Looking for a way to remember her

Danny Ropp: So she was murdered on October 7. And I said earlier that, you know, for families it is terribly important to commemorate.

Itay Prince: Yes.

Danny Ropp: It is part of coping with grief. Some care less, some more, some do it all year, some only on memorial days, but they do something to commemorate, with family, with friends.

You have done quite a few memorial projects around her, but what brought you to the understanding that specifically through the keyboard and the crazy tools of artificial intelligence, which keep developing and have developed enormously in three years, you would find the most right and precise way to commemorate her?

Itay Prince: So look, honestly, at first I did not know. I did not know this was the right way. Just somewhere, back in 2023, when it happened, at the very beginning of the whole GPT thing that had just entered our lives, I understood there was something here that could be bigger.

And personally I did not connect with any other kind of memorial, whether the mattress and the bottles, benches, songs and many other things. Personally, it simply did not touch me.

Really, after two years… it took me a very long time to start this project. And only half a year ago did I really start working on a platform that creates a digital character that commemorates the person and speaks in their language and their way.

48:25Living with memory and grief

Danny Ropp: How does this process go, when you realize you have a tool to commemorate her in the best way… Look, we have many segments on this, and it is developing into avatars, and I ask myself…

I told you, you heard me say earlier that it is hard for me to look at a picture of my father, or a real video [unclear].

Itay Prince: Me too.

Danny Ropp: You know, it took me years to watch it. I just avoided it. My siblings did not. You know, everyone copes with it differently.

You are developing a character that sounds and looks as if, in some way, it brings her back to life.

Itay Prince: I think that somewhere along the path I went through, developing this technology along the way, it was easier for me. It helped me cope. And in other respects too, I had no picture of her at all.

My sister and I had a thing where we went to Tuna concerts together, so for almost three years I did not listen to Tuna. All that music is very hard to hear.

Danny Ropp: Of course, because it takes you right back to her.

Itay Prince: Only recently have I…

Danny Ropp: But on one hand we want to commemorate, and on the other we cannot bear to be reminded by the things that remind us.

Itay Prince: Yes, it is very hard.

Danny Ropp: So you know, it is… [unclear]

Itay Prince: Like you said, it is divided. Everyone copes differently. Some things were easier for me, and for my family, my siblings, my parents, other things were easier.

And really, during the process, through starting to talk with her and dealing with it more, the fact that I really had to look for information about her… really to face the pain and the grief too… [unclear]

49:43The first answer in her voice

Danny Ropp: Describe for me the moment you are with her.

Itay Prince: Yes, it is not one hundred percent her. And I am not trying for that.

Danny Ropp: You are messaging with her character for the first time, with her digital character, and suddenly you hear a new answer.

It is not like hearing a recording. We all have WhatsApp recordings, we can listen to old things. But you ask a relevant question, and she gives you a relevant answer in her voice. What goes through your head, your heart, at that moment?

Itay Prince: Yes, really, the first time, it was after a few attempts that did not work, and I did not give up, but the first time she really answered, this system answered me in her voice to a message I had asked…

It is a shiver. It is a moment of breaking and a moment of understanding.

But it was also the first moment it touched me, that here was a memorial that moved some emotion in me, and I said: there is something here.

There is something here, and if it helped me so much, surely other people too… they will want this technology and to use it.

50:34A bond with a digital character

Danny Ropp: Isn't it maddening? Look, today when I, forgive the comparison, when I talk to ChatGPT by voice, it is becoming more and more empathetic, and it has… and I say: wait, stop, you are talking to a machine. Like, what are you, are you normal? You are sharing…

You know, it happened to me today on my way here. They just put Grok in the Tesla. The whole way I am talking to Grok, and then I say: what are you doing? [unclear]

Here it is much harder, because you are talking with your murdered sister, in her voice, and for a moment the brain… it is like looking through virtual reality glasses, the brain can get confused.

Itay Prince: It is confusing, and it is a technology that is hard… it is a product whose idea is hard to understand and take in, and you need a moment to digest it.

Danny Ropp: Did the family accept it?

Itay Prince: The family accepted it. Some less, some find it easier. And it is something that will eventually be part of our lives.

Artificial intelligence is not going to stop, technology is not going to stop advancing, and whether we want it or not, it will happen.

And I think my way of making it accessible, as someone who comes from those same groups and from bereavement, that is really what is special about me here. Because I give full accompaniment all along the way to people who try and truly want to take part.

51:39How the system works

Danny Ropp: You are doing this with others now. How does this system work, broadly? How do WhatsApp messages, family stories and a few minutes of voice recordings become a character that understands the speaking style and can also answer questions?

Itay Prince: So this is really where the core of the system sits, and everything I managed to bring.

Broadly, it takes all the digital information and gathers it, and the system learns from it.

From WhatsApp we learn how the person spoke: whether it was short, quick messages, which emojis, or whether their answers were more formal.

And here we build a kind of speech profile.

From the voice, from voice messages, using ElevenLabs, which is another artificial intelligence system, we create a clone of the voice. And then the system can also answer in their voice.

And there are a few more elements, which are really what creates the avatar in the end.

52:29A voice avatar, and perhaps a visual one

Itay Prince: I am not trying to make some [unclear] of anyone here, or to bring anyone back to life.

Danny Ropp: It is a voice avatar.

Itay Prince: It is a voice avatar, with a chat too… there is chat and there is voice.

Danny Ropp: I have already seen examples of avatars where you see the person.

Itay Prince: Sort of. That is one of the next things I want to pursue.

Danny Ropp: You want, you would like to see… we saw an animated character here yesterday, did you see that segment?

Itay Prince: That is part of it.

Danny Ropp: Amazing. But do you want to see a character that looks just like her, talking with you?

Itay Prince: I think so.

Danny Ropp: Wow.

Itay Prince: People, of course it will be hard to digest at first, and it is something you need to get used to, to sort of normalize. And slowly it will reach us, whether we want it or not.

Right now, it is really very hard for people, even with the chat. So it is accompaniment, and it is…

53:10Privacy and family control

Danny Ropp: Look, memorialization is a very sensitive subject within families, and as we said, everyone takes it differently. How is the information kept private? Who decides what content goes in? Who is allowed to message with the character?

Itay Prince: So really, whoever creates the memorial, one of the closest relatives, from the family, from the first circle, decides exactly whom to invite.

The memorial is private, not public.

They decide which details are approved and go into building what I call the DNA, which creates the brain behind the avatar, which it uses to speak in the language of the person who passed away.

And only the family decides, exclusively, who has access and which materials go in and which do not.

The power is with them, and it is theirs.

53:55Reactions, and a two-way memorial

Danny Ropp: What reactions have you received so far? Because as we said earlier, everyone takes it differently.

Itay Prince: Yes, both. Some people say: "You are crazy", in a good way and in a bad way. Some say: "I can't even think about it". And some have already told me: "Come on, let's start, let's do it".

And people's reactions after they have used it are amazing. People are very moved.

And this is not something that exists today. What exists today is a one-way memorial. You look at a photo or a Facebook page, and it does not answer you back.

And here, for the first time, there is something two-way. This avatar can talk with you from the person's memories and information, and give a kind of response that did not exist until now.

54:39Getting in touch

Danny Ropp: Amazing. So if people want to reach you?

Itay Prince: Through the site, yes. You can go in and contact me, my email is there.

You are welcome to talk with me personally too. I will be glad to answer WhatsApp messages, calls, and to meet people in person if needed.

Danny Ropp: Yes, it is a process.

Itay Prince: It is a process. I will be very glad to accompany it personally.

55:01A personal choice

Danny Ropp: Because does it give us a way to process grief, or does it take us back?

Itay Prince: As we said, everyone… it is a complex question. I am not a psychologist, I am not here to tell people what to do, and again, it is not an obligation. Whoever wants to is welcome.

Danny Ropp: Of course.

Itay Prince: And whoever does not, that is completely fine. And slowly.

Danny Ropp: Thank you very much.

Itay Prince: I think it will help.

Danny Ropp: Thank you very much.