The Unexpected Path to Building a Grief Platform

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.