Courageous Caitie at 14: Mom Imagines Her Daughter Through AI

Can artificial intelligence ease the yearning in a mom’s heart, even just for a little while?

Caitlin Soleil “Caitie” Lucas, lovingly known as Courageous Caitie, was the three-year-old daughter of Feliz and Jayjay Lucas whose journey touched thousands of people online. After months of unexplained symptoms, hospital stays, tests, and inconclusive diagnoses in the Philippines, her family brought her to Singapore, where she was diagnosed with juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML), a rare form of blood cancer that affects young children. Throughout Caitie’s illness, Feliz and Jayjay documented their daughter’s courage—and their family’s faith, fears, and hopes—through the Courageous Caitie Facebook page. Caitie passed away on March 31, 2016, at just three years old. In the years since, her parents have continued to share her story and how their faith has carried their family through grief and loss.

For what would have been her daughter’s 14th birthday, mommy influencer Feliz Lucas decided to use artificial intelligence to see what her daughter, Caitie, might have looked like 11 years after her passing.

What she got was a series of photos of her beautiful daughter, all grown up, with her beautiful smile still there.

And that got us asking: Can AI give a grieving parent a temporary breather from grief?

The AI tool was able to generate photos of teenage Caitie in different scenarios: getting all dolled up in a tweed dress; sharing a rainbow cake with her mom; smiling at the breakfast table; spending time at the park with her mom; and enjoying a car ride with the family.

For an outsider, it’s probably easy to say “Oh, what a joy it must be to see these photos.”

But Feliz feels otherwise. In her own words, she says, “ChatGPT can get close but will never get it right. No matter how close.”

It’s said that the question of “What if?” is one of the most haunting questions grieving parents have to deal with. With the death of a child also comes the loss of the future they imagined for them—their hopes and dreams.

But Mommy Feliz expressed her complex emotions around this beautifully. She says that sometimes she feels as though she’s being corrected for a mistake through such a consequence, but she also emphasized that she knows God doesn’t work that way.

She adds, “Each life is just really orchestrated with a plan ahead of time. It’s not the length of time lived, but how it was lived.”

Even though ChatGPT may have satisfied some of her curiosity about her beloved daughter, Mommy Feliz shared her belief that acceptance is essential.

She shares, “I remember years back when the doctor asked me why I’m smiling and happy when people expect me to mourn. Little does she know how I scream my heart [out] when I’m alone. How I never sleep. How I cry so bad. How I curl up and stay in bed and never take a bath and eat. But after each episode, I walk out released and hold on to hope that things can still change.”

There should be no judgment toward parents who turn to AI to somehow fill that gaping void brought by the loss of a child. Parents are allowed to grieve and cope in the ways that help them through their grief. And if there are questions they long to answer or “what ifs” they want to explore, AI may offer a measure of comfort.

But apart from using AI, Mommy Feliz found a more meaningful way to see Caitie in her family.

“Going through the whole emotions today, but ending it with gratitude, I can see a little bit of her in each of her siblings, and her dad.”

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