Microsoft has filed a patent that would allow the company to digitally revive deceased loved ones as chatbots, using the individual's personal information.

The Independent reports that the tech giant has raised the possibility of creating an AI-based chatbot that would be built upon the profile of a person, which includes their "images, voice data, social media posts, electronic messages," among other types of personal information. It's understood that the chatbot would then be able to simulate human conversation through voice commands and/or text chats.

However, Microsoft has taken the concept a step further by suggesting that a 2D or 3D model of a specific person could potentially be created, using "images and depth information, or video data" of an individual in order to build a chatbot that has the same characteristics and behaviour based on the digital output of a specific person.

"The specific person [who the chat bot represents] may correspond to a past or present entity (or a version thereof), such as a friend, a relative, an acquaintance, a celebrity, a fictional character, a historical figure, a random entity, etc.," the patent explains. "The specific person may also correspond to oneself (e.g., the user creating/training the chat bot."