The Future of Funerals? Robot Priest Launched to Undercut Human-led Rites

In Japan, robots are already performing a variety of social  and personal functions. The services they provide vary greatly and include helping the elderly, entertainment, sexual partnership, and simple companionship. Pepper, Softbank’s humanoid robot created to replace Buddhist priests at funeral ceremonies, may potentially expand this role. Pepper has been designed to chant sutras while tapping a drum. If used, Pepper represents a much cheaper alternative to human priests and increasingly expensive funeral services.

With funeral costs in Japan averaging over $25,000 and costs for a priest regularly exceeding $2,000, Pepper’s unconventional nature may be outweighed by his modest rental fee: under $500 per funeral. An additional perk, Pepper can live-stream the ceremony for those who are unable to attend in person. Though Pepper has not yet been hired to conduct a funeral, as robots proliferate into the mundane, it seems probable that they will insert themselves somewhere into the end-of-life process.

See Samuel Gibbs, The Future of Funerals? Robot Priest Launched to Undercut Human-led Rites, The Guardian, August 23, 2017.

Special thanks to Lewis Saret (Attorney, Washington, D.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.  

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.