AI….what place does it have in the funeral industry?
AI is the buzziest thing in technology, but where and how does it fit into funeral service and the end-of-life industry?
Before providing an answer, it is vital to note that AI cannot do all the work. It is a tool to help us, but there is still work to be done from a human perspective to ensure that we utilize AI to the best of its capabilities, which we will explore during this blog.
Okay - now that you have gotten past my disclaimer, I can tell you that AI can be a helpful aid when writing obituaries, death notices, and eulogies. While this may seem glaringly obvious, HOW we use AI matters. Sure, you can ask whichever AI tool you select, whether it is ChatGPT, copy.ai, or one that is built into your funeral home database, to write an obituary, but it is not as simple as saying, Write me an obituary for John Doe.
In this blog, we will focus on ways to use AI to write obituaries and death notices, as eulogies will need their own. While the internet is a source of information, it is merely there to guide us, as AI cannot provide the personality behind the words, nor can it weave in stories or anecdotes only you or your family would know.
To create an accurate and beautifully written life story, I recommend these simple three steps:
Tell your AI resource everything it needs to know. While this may initially seem silly - this is what you are using AI for - it can help weave interpersonal information with what they find online. It also helps set the stage for what you are looking to produce. For example, if you are writing a death notice, you must tell your AI resource this, as you need something short and direct rather than an obituary, which is more of a news article.
When I used AI to write a sample obituary for my grandfather, I told it where he grew up, the name of his business, the names of his first and second spouses, and also that he was the nicest, extremely clean and neat, devoted to his family, extremely charitable, and that he always had Oats & Honey Nature Valley Bars and Fiber One in stock. While AI may be able to find the initial information by searching the web, there is no way it can know the ins and outs of one's personality, hobbies, routine, or relationships.
Check for grammar and conciseness. While I may be a funeral director, I am an English major, first and foremost, who cannot imagine not having someone (or something) check my work. I also say this as a much better editor than a writer. You can have AI check your grammar in a variety of ways - it can review an obituary or death notice that you, or the family, have already written, it can check an obituary or death notice you wrote using another AI resource, or you can ask it to periodically evaluate the grammar your obituary or death notice as it works.
The latter part of this recommendation is even more effective when writing a death notice. While obituaries provide the luxury of space, death notices are typically only a few lines, leaving little space to include everything you may want. AI can help consolidate information, often achieved by prompting, Using fewer words, or Shortening.
Always - and I mean ALWAYS - have the family review the information before you provide it to a local news source or post it on your website.
It should go without saying, but it bears repeating. The internet is vast and holds a lot of information, some of which may be incorrect, or the family may not want to share it with others. AI may also find details about a loved one the family did not know or has forgotten about, which they may expand upon or use in their eulogies rather than in a written tribute.
It is imperative to remember that there is no AI without a prompt - and humans are the ones providing it. Like other technologies in the end-of-life space, we must consider that it is a tool, not a definitive answer.
And just for good measure - I did have AI check my grammar on this post.
