This may realistically be as close as we actually get to zombies... Dead people coming back as robots!
Microsoft just patented a technique that could turn dead people into 3D A.I. chatbots.
Basically, the system would collect information from someone including images, voice data, social media posts, and messages.
Then it would create a 3D model of the person that can have conversations with you . . . and those conversations would be in that person's voice, and based on their personality. Or, at least, how artificial intelligence recreates their personality.
Microsoft got the patent this month but says right now, quote, "there's no plan for this." One day in the future, though? I guess we'll see.