A New York-based startup called Re;memory charges $24 a month to build three animated chatbot avatars of deceased individuals, trained on text messages, emails, and voice recordings, allowing subscribers to continue conversations indefinitely. Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder term these "generative ghosts." Three companies compete in this space: Re;memory ($24 monthly), Séance AI ($19.99 a month for animated image interactions), and You Only Virtual. All three report growing user bases but will not disclose subscriber numbers. Jack Manning, a doctoral candidate at the University of Colorado Boulder, stated, “It is definitely a growing sector... We’re seeing growth in interest in how AI and grief intertwine.” The services analyze linguistic patterns, response cadence, and vocabulary from a person's digital footprint to generate probabilistic responses in real time. Manning distinguishes these from deepfakes, arguing, “The fundamental premise of a deep fake is the intent to deceive... The intent of generative ghosts is not to deceive another person,” as users know what they are interacting with.