“Who Wants to Live Forever” was a song written by Queen for the film Highlander (1986). Who knew that in 2025 Meta in obtaining U.S. Patent No. 12,513,102 would provide a method of a virtual life after death. What once sounded like science fiction, or perhaps a rejected subplot from a dystopian television series, may become a virtual reality and lead to an actual reality involving actual investment with actual real legal ramifications. The Meta patent provides an example of where this technology may be heading and why business attorneys should begin paying attention.
The Meta patent generally relates to using artificial intelligence and language models to simulate the online presence and behavior of a user based on historical data. In plain English, the AI system analyzes years of a person’s posts, messages, videos, speech patterns, preferences, and interactions to create an AI-generated version of that person (which then behaves in a manner resembling that individual). Although patent language is framed in typical technological terms, the implications are much broader. One obvious application is the continuation of a person’s online “presence” after death.
Strategic Business Assets
For business attorneys who do not regularly deal with patent law, it is important to understand that patents are not necessarily proof that a company has fully commercialized a technology. Instead, patents are often strategic assets. Companies seek patents to reserve territory, deter competitors, impress investors, and position themselves for future markets. In this case, the future market may involve digital identity continuation, virtual companionship, memorialization services, celebrity licensing, and even AI-generated business representatives.
Legal Issues
The legal issues surrounding this technology are surprisingly extensive. Intellectual property rights are only one part of the equation. A deceased individual’s likeness, voice, writings, and mannerisms may implicate rights of publicity, copyright interests, contractual ownership provisions, and privacy concerns. Some states recognize post-mortem publicity rights extending decades beyond death, while others provide limited or inconsistent protection. A business attorney negotiating entertainment agreements, influencer contracts, or executive employment arrangements may someday encounter clauses addressing AI replication rights or digital resurrection permissions.
Imagine the possibilities. A famous chef could continue appearing in cooking videos years after his death. A corporate founder could continue giving motivational speeches generated from decades of her archived interviews. A law firm partner might theoretically continue “participating” in client intake meetings long after that partner’s retirement – although malpractice carriers may have strong opinions about that development.
Social media platforms are built on engagement, and few things generate engagement like emotional attachment and nostalgia. A platform capable of preserving a realistic digital version of a loved one could potentially create entirely new categories of subscription services and advertising revenue.
Business attorneys should also appreciate that these systems depend heavily on data ownership. The more information an AI system has regarding a person, the more convincing the resulting avatar may become. This raises questions about who owns lifetime social media archives, stored communications, voice recordings, biometric data, and behavioral analytics.
Illusions and Digital Ghosts
There is also something unsettling about the entire concept. Humans have historically accepted death partly because it represents a final boundary. AI threatens to blur that boundary. The resulting “digital ghosts” may comfort some families while deeply disturbing others. One can envision future estate disputes in which heirs argue over control of an AI-generated grandfather who continues posting advice online, years after his funeral.
Perhaps the strangest aspect is that this technology does not actually require consciousness. It merely requires sufficient predictive accuracy to create the illusion of continuity. At some point, the question of whether an avatar truly is the deceased person stops as the question evolves to, “Can anyone tell the difference?”
If that day comes, business attorneys may discover that the dead are not only walking among us, but also attending Zoom meetings, endorsing products, responding to emails, and quite possibly continuing to generate billable hours!
