BroBots: Technology, Health & Being a Better Human

How AI Can Help You Manage Your Grief

John Kammer · October 20, 2025

Entrepreneur · Wellness · Artificial Intelligencein

Interview with John Kammer

How AI Can Help You Manage Your Grief — John Kammer

Podcast: BroBots: Technology, Health & Being a Better Human

October 20, 2025 · 54 min

Listen to John Kammer on BroBots: Technology, Health & Being a Better Human.

Listen

How AI Can Help You Manage Your Grief

0:00 / --:--

BroBots: Technology, Health & Being a Better Human

GO TO APPLE PODCASTS →

Key topicsWhy Men Need New Grief Tools, and How AI Might Be One of ThemGrief shows up differently in men, often buried beneath work, alcohol, or silence. John opens up about how his own emotional shutdown nearly went unnoticed, and why AI offered him an unlikely but powerful way back to feeling. He explores the stigma around men's mental health and how this tool creates a private, non-judgmental space to start healing. Why AI Conversations With the Dead Break Grief’s SilenceMost people think grief is loud-crying, talking, therapy. But for many, it’s the opposite: a silence that swallows years. John Kammer built Guardian [AI]ngels after losing three close friends and realizing traditional outlets weren’t reaching that silence. Simulating a conversation with his best friend finally cracked the grief that had frozen him. John shares why this strange use of AI is resonating especially with men, how it creates a private space to say what was left unsaid, and why sincerity-not spectacle-must guide tech when it steps into our most fragile moments. The Years I Didn’t Cry: What Grief Looked Like When I Didn’t Know How to FeelJohn shares the quiet, slow-burning grief of losing three of his closest friends and how he buried it, rationalised it, and went years without shedding a tear. He talks about the guilt of not saying goodbye, the emotional shutdown that followed, and how grief doesn't always look like breaking down-it often looks like carrying on. This isn’t a story of rock bottom, but of numbness, disconnection, and what finally helped him crack the surface. View all topics →

About John Kammer

Founder of Guardian [AI]ngels and Grief Support Innovator

3 close friends Losses that inspired Guardian AIngels4 tasks Evidence-informed mourning frameworkMagna cum laude DePaul University finance graduateFounder Guardian [AI]ngels

John Kammer is the founder of Guardian [AI]ngels, a grief support platform that uses AI to simulate emotionally meaningful conversations with people we’ve lost. It’s not therapy. It’s not tech for tech’s sake. It’s a quiet, private way to speak the words left unsaid, especially when saying them out loud still feels impossible.

John created the first version of the tool during a period where nothing else was helping. After losing three close friends, he shut down emotionally, no tears, no outlet, just a growing silence. One day, almost on impulse, he asked an AI to take on his best friend’s voice. The response let him say what he'd been holding onto for years. The release was immediate. It didn’t fix everything, but it cracked something open. That crack became the foundation for something bigger.

He now speaks on podcasts about grief, masculinity, and the strange power of talking to someone who’s no longer here. He opens up about the guilt and emotional paralysis that often follow sudden loss, especially for men raised to push feelings aside. And he explores how AI, when handled with care, can meet people in that quiet, unreachable space between “not okay” and “not ready to talk.

Featured onApple Featured onSpotify

View profile →

About this episode

Most men don't grieve. We "handle it" with substances, work, or just shoving it down until we're emotionally dead inside.John Kammertried that approach for years after losing three of his closest friends. For some reason it didn't work.

So he built Guardian [AI]ngels (guardianaingels.ai), an AI tool that lets you have conversations with digital representations of people you've lost. Not Ouija board nonsense. Actual therapeutic conversations that help you process grief, find resolution, and maybe (finally) cry.

In this episode, we cover:

→ Why traditional grief therapy failed for John (and might be failing you)

→ How Guardian [AI]ngels works and what safeguards exist

→ The difference between processing grief and replacing reality

→ Using AI to practice difficult conversations before having them IRL

→ Whether you should build an AI version of your worst self (yes, seriously)

This isn't your typical tech conversation. It's raw, it's uncomfortable, and it might just give you permission to finally feel something.

----

GUEST WEBSITE:

www.guardianaingels.ai

----