Who would Richie Koh and Carrie Wong revive as AI holograms?

Given a choice, would you bring a loved one back from the dead through an AI hologram?

It's a heavy question to ponder over and one we posed to local actors Carrie Wong and Richie Koh who co-star in Coded Love, an upcoming Chinese drama whose premise is built on this central question: How far can technology truly go to remedy human lives?

The pair, acting as mother and son in the series, shared on what it's like to deal with grief and loss as well as their outlook on life and death.

'It's good to let go'

Coded Love's protagonist Xiaoming (played by Richie) is a lonely man robbed of his childhood memories who uses virtual technology to create an AI hologram of his mother who died in her 20s.

Her return brings colour back into his mundane life and also his absent father Lu Han, played by Jeffrey Xu.

However, unlike his on-screen character, Richie would not bring any of his loved ones back from the dead as an AI hologram if given the choice.

In a recent interview with AsiaOne, the 31-year-old said: "I feel that it's good to let go. If we're always stuck on a person for a prolonged period of time in our lives, we'll be unable to move on and then sink into greater despair."

He is not foreign to losing loved ones, mentioning his late grandparents whom he greatly misses.

"Even if I have them now [through AI], it would be fake. And they wouldn't be that fond of me either, because I'm an adult now. I'm not the young boy I was at the time of their passing," he explained.

"The love they give me will be different, because they wouldn't see me as the adult I am now, they would see me as the young kid I was."

His sentiments drive home what the essence of life is to him - to appreciate the fact that "people will live".

And when it comes to funerals, he said: "You show your appreciation for your loved ones when they leave. Please cry all you want, please mourn for them. Do whatever you need because that's the purpose of the funeral.

"The funeral is not for the dead. It's for the ones left behind by the dead. So use that time to really mend your soul, mend your feelings and to cry for the one who left. That way, you can make sure that they won't worry about you."

Rather than revivals, Richie "sees life and death quite simply" and believes in the afterlife. "When I move on to the next phase, I will meet them. We will reunite there."

He added: "I think the best way to live your life is when you're able to tell your parents, 'Don't worry about me, live your life - I enjoyed my life at 100 per cent. Thank you for giving me my life.'"

You can never be ready

In the drama Coded Love, Siyu (played by Carrie) is a deceased woman brought back to 'life' as an AI hologram by her son Xiaoming. Her death in a tragic car accident at the young age of 27 left her husband devastated and he disappeared, leaving their son with his grandmother.

The AI hologram Siyu and Xiaoming are able to make up for lost time and it's an emotional scenario that Carrie can resonate with.

The 30-year-old told us that her maternal grandmother died in 2020 in Malaysia when Covid-19 restrictions were still rife.

"Even my relatives in Malaysia, not all of them could attend the funeral together so all of them had to take turns. And me and my family? We had to watch my grandma through FaceTime," she said.

"And I think this has always been a regret especially for my mom, because she didn't manage to say goodbye to her own mother. So if I can, I'd love it if we could say goodbye to my grandma properly for one last time before she died."

With a senior dog aged 12, she is aware she might have to deal with her death in the near future.

She told us: "People will keep telling you that, 'Hey, your pet isn't very healthy and you've gotta be mentally prepared for them to… you know, leave us one day.' Many, many people can tell you this, but I don't think you can ever be really ready for it at that moment when it strikes you."

In coming to terms with death, through her time acting as Siyu on the show, Carrie said there are some nuggets of wisdom to be learned.

"When you watch this drama, you will learn to simply cherish everyone around you because you really never know when your last goodbye is. Especially since we don't have this technology now, so you don't have a second chance to say goodbye."

Coded Love is now available on demand for free on Mewatch. It will also premiere on Channel 8 on Oct 18, airing weekdays at 9pm.

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kristy.chua@asiaone.com