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| Meta has been granted a patent for an AI system based on large language models that could post on behalf of deceased or inactive users. |
In the closing weeks of 2025, Meta was quietly granted a patent for a piece of technology so provocative that it has dragged a question from the realm of dystopian science fiction into stark reality: What happens to your online self after you die?
The patent, originally filed in 2023 and first reported by Business Insider, describes a system designed to do what was once unthinkable—automatically continue the social media presence of users who have either taken a long hiatus or passed away. Using a large language model trained on a person’s entire digital footprint—past posts, comments, likes, and private messages—the AI would learn to replicate their unique writing style and communication patterns. It would then be let loose to interact with the world, liking posts, commenting, and even responding to direct messages, all with the uncanny aim of seeming authentically human.
The implications are staggering. According to the patent documents, the system’s "deepfake capabilities" could extend beyond text, potentially simulating a user’s voice and image to conduct video or audio calls. This moves the concept beyond a simple autoreply into the realm of a persistent, interactive digital avatar.
The Incentive: Engagement Beyond the Grave
So why would one of the world’s largest social media companies want to create these ghostly digital twins? The patent filing is candid about the rationale: it solves a user-experience problem. When someone stops posting, whether due to a “social media detox” or death, it negatively impacts their followers. "The impact on the users is much more severe and permanent if that user is deceased and can never return to the social networking platform," the document states.
For influencers and creators who make their living on the platform, the tool is framed as a way to maintain audience reach and engagement during a break. But the technology is undeniably pointed toward a more profound and controversial application: creating a form of digital immortality.
Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s Chief Technology Officer, is listed as the primary author of the patent. However, a company spokesperson was quick to pour cold water on the idea that such a service is imminent. "We have no plans to move forward with this example," the spokesperson told Business Insider, emphasizing that patents are often filed to protect intellectual property, not as a declaration of a product roadmap.
A Public Outcry and a "Black Mirror" Reality
Despite Meta’s assurance, the news of the patent’s existence has been met with a wave of public revulsion and concern, forcing the conversation about digital legacy and corporate ethics back into the spotlight.
READ: The Reddit community reacts with fury and dismay to the news of Meta’s patent
On Reddit, a thread discussing the patent quickly went viral, filled with commenters using words like "dystopian," "tasteless," and "immoral." Many users accused the company of attempting to commodify the finality of death itself. The comparison was almost universally drawn to "Be Right Back," a haunting episode of the series Black Mirror, in which a grieving woman subscribes to a service that allows her to communicate with an AI simulacrum of her deceased partner. What was once a cautionary tale about the dangers of technology is now being viewed as a potential blueprint.
The Ethics of Grief and the Business of Data
The reaction highlights the delicate and deeply personal nature of grief. Experts in digital rights and sociology are raising serious red flags about the potential impact on mental health and the human experience of loss.
Edina Harbinja, a professor of law at the University of Birmingham who specializes in digital rights and post-mortem privacy, warned that the implications are profound. "It does affect not just legal issues, but a lot of very important social, ethical, and deeply philosophical issues as well," she told Business Insider. She pointed out that beyond the emotional toll, there is a clear business incentive for Meta: "It's more engagement, more content, more data—more data for the current and the future AI."
This perspective is shared by others in the field. Joseph Davis, a sociology professor at the University of Virginia, expressed deep concern that such tools could disrupt the fundamental process of grieving. "One of the tasks of grief is to face the actual loss," Davis said. "Let the dead be dead. The idea of bringing them back, but you're not really doing that, but in fact, it looks like that. That's the confusion."
A Growing and Controversial Field
Meta is not alone in exploring this territory. Microsoft filed a similar patent for an AI chatbot simulating deceased individuals in 2021, and startups like You, Only Virtual (YOV) and Replika have built businesses around the concept of conversational AI companions, often born from their founders' personal experiences with loss.
Justin Harrison, the founder of YOV, sees Meta’s move as a sign that "grief tech" is moving into the mainstream. He argues that there is a "moral obligation" to use technology to improve the resources available for grieving people, which he describes as currently "horrible."
Yet, the scale at which Meta operates changes the equation entirely. The company holds a treasure trove of personal data across its family of apps—Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The questions of who would own the AI-generated content, how a person’s posthumous personality rights would be protected, and what the psychological effect would be on loved ones interacting with an AI ghost remain entirely unanswered.
For now, the technology remains a patent, a set of ideas on paper. But the debate it has ignited is very real. It forces a confrontation with a future where our digital selves may long outlive our physical ones, and where a corporation could be the one pulling the strings. Whether Meta ever flips the switch on its "immortality machine," the question of whether we should let the dead be dead is one we will now have to answer.
Source : businessinsider