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Meta’s New Digital Afterlife Patent Is the Most Black Mirror Thing I’ve Ever Seen — I Want to Be Remembered, Not Replicated
Meta's AI patent aims to maintain user engagement by simulating activity for absent or deceased users, supporting creators and raising ethical concerns, according to multiple reports.
- A 2023 Meta patent proposes AI using large language models to simulate deceased users' social media activity by replying to posts, Business Insider reported.
- Andrew Bosworth, Meta CTO, filed the 2023 patent as primary author, while Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO, previously suggested virtual avatars could help grieve; about 10 years ago, Facebook introduced legacy contacts.
- According to the patent, large language models would train on posts, comments, likes, and messages to autonomously create content, reply to DMs, and simulate video or audio calls.
- The proposal has prompted ethical concern, as Meta's spokesperson told Business Insider it has 'no plans' to proceed and noted patents often do not translate to actual products.
- The patent's publication highlights the industry's trajectory as numerous grief-tech startups exist, Microsoft patented a related chatbot in 2021, and Business Insider's reporting renewed attention.
13 Articles
13 Articles
Berliner Morgenpost
A patent from Meta describes AI, which continues profiles of deceased and inactive people – experts warn of ethical consequences.
This New Patent Could Let AI Run Your Social Media After You’re Dead
If Meta has its way, your social media feeds may one day become a kind of digital mausoleum. Profiles will keep posting long after your buddy from college died of a massive coronary. The feeds will keep on truckin’, thanks to a 2023 patent from Meta that proposes the idea of using large language models to simulate the way someone would post. That way, they can keep posting long after they’ve died. Business Insider details the horrors in a patent…
Meta, Facebook's parent company, has obtained a patent for an AI system that simulates the activity of deceased users on social media platforms. This isn't science fiction—it's real technology that could allow our fake loved ones to write to us even after their real ones have passed. Of course, this isn't a step toward "eternal digital life," as it doesn't bring anyone back to life, but rather a controversial, business-oriented way to maintain a…
When a person dies, his social media trail does not disappear with her. There are still photos, comments, messages, birthday congratulations that continue to arrive as letters to an empty house. Since Facebook, Instagram and other platforms became part of everyday life, the management of the accounts of a deceased has become a delicate issue: some families want to turn the profile into a digital memorial, others prefer to close it, and many enco…
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