MyWishes launches the first AI Assistant empowering the general public with end of life planning
MyWishes have launched an AI Assistant called ‘Ask Ollie’. It provides real-time support and information to MyWishes users. This takes place whilst someone is making plans for their ‘Online Accounts’ within their ‘Digital and Social Media Will’.
This is the first time that an AI Assistant has been used within a care planning platform to help assist society with their care planning journey.
Making plans for our online accounts before serious illness and death can help reduce the likelihood of precious digital assets such as photos and videos being lost, becoming inaccessible or deleted. Planning can also help safeguard parts of the person’s digital legacy and reduce the heartache often experienced by the bereaved when suitable plans are not put in place.
Watch our new demo video and see 'Ask Ollie' in action...
Ask Ollie providing AI support
The benefits of Ask Ollie for those documenting their wishes include enhancing their knowledge without needing to leave MyWishes and the documentation process. Information provided can also be highly specialised and tailored to the needs of the person.
Ask Ollie has some other advantages over traditionally published support material. It is constantly learning, updating and therefore it remains up to date with technological developments and policies.
“The use of Artificial Intelligence is becoming increasingly important in our day to day lives. With the rapid advancements within this field, it now seems appropriate to utilise this emerging technology to help benefit our community”.
– James Norris, Founder of MyWishes
Ask Ollie, AI Week & why AI adds value
Ask Ollie was announced in the ‘AI and End of Life Planning’ seminar delivered by James Norris on the 24th October during AI Week 2025. In the seminar James explained how digital should now be included as an important dimension of wellbeing both at an individual level and a societal level. He argued that this is true both in life and death.
With ‘digital’ now forming an important dimension of wellbeing, James argued that making plans for our digital life and our online accounts is becoming increasingly important.
The seminar concluded by highlighting the other ways in which AI could have been used within MyWishes and why they were not developed. Reasons for not developing alternative AI interventions included the personal nature of end of life planning, adhering to the stated and unstated wishes of those who had died and deciding which interventions provide the greatest value to their community. Datasets such as the one shown below also influenced and guided MyWishes use of Artificial Intelligence.
Following your death, would you mind if Artificial Intelligence (Ai) is used to…
Societal attitudes about death, dying and AI
With the rise in ‘death bots’ many of which are created without the consent of the deceased, societal attitudes toward them and with MyWishes already providing a solution for society to leave organic ‘goodbye messages’ in the form of video, image and text, this is one example of the interventions MyWishes has decided to not embrace.
Ask Ollie is has arrived and looks forward to meeting you
“We hope that Ask Ollie brings a new, high value dimension to end of life planning.
Everything on MyWishes is free for society to use and we welcome any feedback about Ollie and the impact it has with your own planning journey and subsequent documentation.”
– James Norris, Founder of MyWishes
Where did the name ‘Ask Ollie’ come from?
We have been friends with Ollie Minton, Professor (Associate) | PhD FRCP FHEA at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust for many years. Ollie is both a longtime MyWishes user and a friend. Over the last 5 years or so, he has affectionately become known as ‘the Minton Bot’ due to his interest in technologies, his MyWishes profile and more specifically the humble fax machine.
Whilst thinking of a name for our AI assistant, ‘Ollie’ seemed the perfect choice whilst we embarked on making the ‘Minton Bot’ humanised.
We hope that Ollie enjoys having our AI assistant named after him. If he does not, we apologise. 🤖📠
Ollie Minton’s Bucket List shared publicly with MyWishes.
MyWishes helps people make plans for their future-self in a number of ways. We empower society to document and share ‘what matter most’ to them in both the digital and physical world.
We are a ‘tech for good’ service and everything we provide is free for the general public to use.
The importance of a digital legacy
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Michael Sobell Hospice Palliative Care Department Mount Vernon Hospital, Gate 3 Northwood HA6 2RN United Kingdom (Map)
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MyWishes free to use software was developed under the guidance of healthcare, hospice, legal and funeral professionals. Our platform empowers society to make plans for both themselves and those they care about.