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Technology Today: When Death Is Not the End: AI as Life Extension…?
April 14, 2025
Digital Technology Group Chair Katherine Forrest’s latest Technology Today column, “When Death Is Not the End: AI as Life Extension…?,” appeared in the April 14 issue of the New York Law Journal. In the article, Katherine discusses the ethical and legal implications of certain AI tools, either available or in development, that seek to retain the personality of a deceased person. Among others, legal questions include intellectual property, free speech and liability issues. For instance, does the person wishing to create a so-called griefbot own the intellectual property rights to the materials that must be processed to create it? Does anyone have the right to create a griefbot—and, relatedly, could there be multiple ones of the same person? Does a griefbot have rights itself—for example, over how a trust fund is administered? And who is liable if a griefbot’s actions inflict harm?
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