Digital Presence After Death: Will Artificial Intelligence Continue to Manage Your Accounts After You Pass Away?

A new patent from "Meta" raises widespread debate about the future of users' digital presence, revealing a potential technology that allows artificial intelligence to continue posting and interacting through users' accounts even in their absence or after their death.

The idea, developed by the company's Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth, involves training a large language model that mimics user behavior on social media platforms, relying on their previous activity such as posts, comments, and likes, with the aim of maintaining account interaction with others.

According to the patent documents, the model can simulate a user's presence in case of a long absence from posting, whether for personal reasons or due to death, by creating a digital replica capable of interacting with others' content and responding to messages, and perhaps even conducting voice or video conversations that mimic the user.

"Meta" believes this technology could meet the needs of some users, especially content creators and influencers who rely on their digital activity as a source of income, or in cases of temporary absence from platforms.

Conversely, the company confirmed that registering the patent does not necessarily mean the technology is being developed or launched, noting that this step aims to explore future ideas in the field of artificial intelligence and digital interaction.
This direction has raised significant ethical and legal questions, as digital rights expert Edina Harbinja from the University of Birmingham warned that technologies simulating individuals after death could pose challenges that go beyond legal aspects to include deep social and philosophical dimensions.

This development comes amid increasing efforts to manage what is known as "digital legacy," as "Facebook" previously launched tools allowing users to appoint individuals to manage their accounts after death, and "Meta" founder Mark Zuckerberg discussed the idea of creating digital avatars for deceased individuals to help their loved ones cope with grief and recover memories.

These technologies fall under a field known as "grief technology," which includes what are called "ghost robots" or "death robots," where several startups are working on developing digital replicas of individuals based on their data and digital behavior.

Additionally, "Microsoft" previously obtained a similar patent for a chatbot capable of simulating real or fictional personalities, indicating a growing global interest in developing this type of technology, amidst increasing debate about its ethical boundaries and impact on societies.