Meta’s AI Patent Explores a Digital Afterlife for Social Media Users
Meta received a 2025 patent to let AI mimic deceased users, raising ethical questions about digital afterlife and grief technology.
What becomes of your social media presence after you die? It’s a question that blends technology with mortality — and one that Meta appears to have considered seriously.
According to Business Insider, Meta was granted a patent in December 2025 for technology that could allow artificial intelligence to continue posting and interacting as a user — even after their death. The patent, originally filed in 2023 and credited to Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s chief technology officer, outlines a system in which a large language model could “simulate” a person’s behaviour on social media during periods of absence.
The concept is both futuristic and unsettling. The patent describes an AI system trained on “user-specific” data, including past posts, comments, reactions, and other digital footprints. By analysing this history, the model could create a digital version of the user that behaves in ways closely aligned with their established online personality.
The technology would not only apply to deceased individuals. The filing also suggests that such an AI system could temporarily step in when someone takes a prolonged break from the platform, ensuring that engagement on their account continues. However, the idea of AI taking over after death is what has drawn the most attention.
Why would a company pursue such an innovation? The patent provides some insight. It states, “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.” In other words, Meta argues that a sudden and permanent disappearance can deeply affect online communities and loved ones. A digital stand-in, theoretically, could soften that absence.
This idea falls within the growing field of “grief tech” — technology designed to preserve or recreate aspects of a person after death. Several companies are already working in this space. Platforms like Replika and You, Only Virtual offer AI-driven experiences that allow users to interact with digital representations of loved ones who have passed away. Microsoft, too, patented a chatbot in 2021 capable of simulating deceased individuals.
For some, such innovations offer comfort and continuity. For others, they raise serious ethical concerns about consent, identity, and the commercialization of memory. Would users agree to have their digital selves continue indefinitely? Who controls that data? And could such tools blur the line between remembrance and imitation?
Despite the attention surrounding the patent, Meta has sought to calm fears. The company clarified that it has “no plans to move forward with this example.” It is not uncommon for technology firms to file patents for experimental concepts that never reach public release.
Still, the patent highlights how rapidly artificial intelligence is reshaping not just communication, but also our understanding of presence and legacy in the digital age. As social media becomes deeply intertwined with personal identity, the question of what happens to our online selves after death may become increasingly complex — and increasingly technological.
