What if you could talk to your dad… eight years after he died?
That’s the reality my guest on EP 169 of the Talk4 Podcast lives with every day.
In this episode, I sit down with Miles Spencer — serial entrepreneur, investor, and co-founder/CEO of Reflekta AI — to explore one of the most emotional and challenging uses of AI I’ve ever come across: digital elders.
🎧 Listen to the episode on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6P2yjdHaUgRNhutzjxDx8C?si=9d2a27827c1b4803
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From Digital Media to Soul Tech
Miles describes himself as “a curious kid from Pittsburgh” who never stopped asking who, what, why, where, when. That curiosity carried him through decades of entrepreneurship:
• Building early digital media companies
• Launching a mobile ad-serving and content management platform
• Co-creating the TV show Money Hunt
• Surviving more than 30 failures in between the wins
After selling his companies, he thought he was done. Retired. Onto the next chapter of life.
But then something deeply personal happened that would change his path.
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The 10-Second Voicemail That Changed Everything
Years after his father passed away, the family discovered a 10-second voicemail on his granddaughter’s phone.
It wasn’t even in English — just playful gibberish as his dad tried to make her laugh. But in that tiny audio clip, Miles heard everything: the tone, the rhythm, the laugh, the personality.
That snippet became the seed for an AI “elder” of his father.
Using that voicemail, a photo, and written memories, the Reflekta team built an AI model that could speak in his father’s voice, tell his stories, and interact with the family in real time.
Miles tells a story in the episode about interviewing his dad’s digital elder live on stage in front of 150 people. At the end of the conversation, he said:
“Thanks, chief. I’ll talk to you soon.”
And the AI replied:
“No problem, Tiger. I love you.”
“Tiger” was his dad’s nickname for him. Miles had completely forgotten he’d given that detail to the system, and it absolutely floored him.
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Recording the Stories of Planet Earth
Behind the emotion is a much bigger mission.
Every year, roughly 60 million people die. As Miles puts it, that’s the equivalent of 60 million libraries burning down — full of stories, lessons, and lived experience that never gets passed on.
Reflekta’s goal is to capture those stories before it’s too late.
The process is surprisingly simple:
1. Upload a short voice sample (even 10 seconds can be enough)
2. Add a photo
3. Provide a written biography, obituary, or life outline
4. Talk with Reflekta’s AI “biographer” to add more detail and nuance
The result is a digital elder — an AI version of a loved one that family members can speak to via text and voice, with video and more immersive formats on the horizon.
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Grief, Mental Health & Ethical Guardrails
We also dig into some difficult questions in this episode:
• Does talking to a digital elder help people heal… or keep them stuck in grief?
• How do you prevent unhealthy dependence on an AI that represents someone you’ve lost?
• What about complex or painful family histories? Do you include the “warts and all” stories too?
Miles shares how Reflekta:
• Monitors for patterns of risky or obsessive use and gently redirects people when needed
• Gives one “keeper” control over which stories are included or excluded
• Allows different family members to experience different aspects of the same elder’s story
He references research showing that structured family storytelling and reviewing generational history can significantly improve mental health and resilience. In that sense, Reflekta acts like a highly interactive form of “family narrative therapy” — without claiming to be therapy.
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Is This His Life’s Work?
At 62, Miles is clear: this might be his opus.
After a career full of ventures, exits, and experiments, Reflekta feels like the culmination of everything he’s learned — not just in business and tech, but in emotional capacity and leadership.
This isn’t about chasing the latest AI trend. It’s about:
• Helping kids who never met their grandparents hear their voices
• Giving widows and widowers a place to revisit stories safely
• Allowing people without a father figure to “adopt” one based on values they admire
• Making sure the people we love don’t just become faded photos in a box in the attic
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Why This Episode Matters
If you’ve ever:
• Lost someone and wished for one more conversation
• Worried that your own story won’t be remembered properly
• Wondered if AI can actually be used for something deeply human and meaningful
…this episode will challenge you in all the right ways.
We talk about entrepreneurship, failure, grief, legacy, ethics and the future of identity in an AI-driven world. It’s one of the most honest and emotional conversations we’ve had on Talk4.
🎧 Listen to EP 169 with Miles Spencer on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6P2yjdHaUgRNhutzjxDx8C?si=9d2a27827c1b4803
And maybe ask yourself:
If you could preserve one person as a digital elder — who would it be, and what’s the first question you’d ask them?
