Edit

Roman Mazurenko was a young Belarusian tech entrepreneur and cultural figure who tragically died on November 28, 2015, in Moscow after being struck by a car[2]. Born in Belarus in 1981, he was the only child of Sergei, an engineer, and Victoria, a landscape architect[3].

Professional Background

Mazurenko was the CEO and Founder of Stampsy.com[6], a technology startup. He was based in New York and had 456 professional connections on LinkedIn[5]. Despite not being very interested in social media, he was considered a legendary figure in Moscow’s cultural and artistic circles[2].

Digital Legacy

After his untimely death, his friend Eugenia Kuyda created a unique digital memorial. Using thousands of text messages exchanged with Roman since 2008, she developed an AI chatbot that could mimic his communication style. This bot was inspired by a “Black Mirror” episode and allowed friends and family to “communicate” with Roman’s digital ghost[2].

Mazurenko was known for his distinctive communication style, which included mild dyslexia and the use of idiosyncratic phrases. His digital memorial became a poignant example of how technology can preserve memories and connections after death[2].

Citations

[1] https://www.instagram.com/romanmazurenko02/ [2] https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/chatting-with-the-dead-chatbots/ [3] http://www.theverge.com/a/luka-artificial-intelligence-memorial-roman-mazurenko-bot [4] https://www.facebook.com/public/Roman-Mazurenko/ [5] https://www.linkedin.com/in/roman-mazurenko-99242945 [6] https://x.com/romanmazurenko [7] https://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Roman/Mazurenko [8] https://www.facebook.com/public/%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD-%D0%9C%D0%B0%D0%B7%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%BE

Roman Mazurenko (Rus. Роман Мазуренко) born in 1983, Belarus; died 2015, Moscow—Russian promoter, a businessman known for having founded in 2007 LAM Magazine, in 2009, took part in the launch of the Russian version of the magazine Dazed & Confused. In 2012, he launched a publishing platform Stampsy and received a grant program Start Fellows, founded by Pavel Durov and Yuri Milner.

Roman Mazurenko in 2011 Photo: Andrew Isakin / GQ

Cover of LAM Magazine Photo: Unknown / Archive of LAM Magazine

Selected works