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The dead need right to delete their data so they can't be AI-ified, lawyer says

theregister.com

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Re: The dead need right to delete their data so they can't be AI-ified, lawyer says

#101

Post by j45 »

efitz wrote: post #49

When you’re dead, you don’t have rights anymore because you’re not a person anymore. Anything of value that survived your death- property, money, IP rights, etc. now are part of an estate which is administered and distributed according to your will and/or state law. Other than your state’s law and your will, it’s not up to you what happens to your stuff after you die. Artifacts of your existence that you did not own,…

Right, so the estate, and not a third party.

Or maybe a Family trust.

Re: The dead need right to delete their data so they can't be AI-ified, lawyer says

#102

Post by Nadya »

roywiggins wrote: post #89
Nadya wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but none of that is truly unique. The odds of a doppleganger sharing my name are astronomically slim but my looks, voice, interests, personality, etc. are not truly unique to me. For an example, what of voice impersonators? Sounding like Morgan Freeman is not unique to Morgan Freeman. What if a soundalike legally changes their name to Morgan Freeman? What if a lookalike changes their name? I'm familiar with the…

The way it mostly works is that if a company hires a Morgan Freeman impersonator to do the voice over for their car commercial, Morgan Freeman can sue them for using his likeness without permission: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/849... > We need not and do not go so far as to hold that every imitation of a voice to advertise merchandise is actionable. We hold only that when a distinctive vo…

So essentially only the rich and famous have any meaningful protection under the law. Have to love the legal system sometimes.

Also sucks if you sound like Morgan Freeman. Put out of an entire line of work because someone was famous for sounding like you first.

Re: The dead need right to delete their data so they can't be AI-ified, lawyer says

#103

Post by MandieD »

jgalecki wrote: post #91
grej wrote: post #48

Out - A scammer convincing a grandmother to send money using an AI generated voice of their grandchild asking them for money In - A legal ad tech company using an AI generated deceased grandmother to ask their grandchild to purchase a product

Every day, I'm haunted by my ex. It's not Alice's fault, of course. In fact, when she found out about it, phrases like "obsessive creep" and "got what he fucking deserved" were thrown around. It was a raw breakup on both sides, and I think we're feeling it out in different ways. In my defense, she broke up with me. I feel that counts for something, ya know? It was poor timing for me that the breakup happened a month…

That is excellent, creepy, and just a little too plausible. I'd read whatever larger work this turns into.

Re: The dead need right to delete their data so they can't be AI-ified, lawyer says

#105

Post by lostmsu »

jMyles wrote: post #104
lostmsu wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm actively working toward it!

Have you documented your process at all?

No. For now I'm just recording as much data as humanely possible. Video, audio, sensors, eye tracking, etc. Started research on long context transformers and watch closely what happens in the video space. It's a moonshot, I expect to see many changes down the way.

Re: The dead need right to delete their data so they can't be AI-ified, lawyer says

#106

Post by netsharc »

jfengel wrote: post #19
Retr0id wrote: post #2

The idea of someone AI-ifying me posthumously is gross, but deleting all record of me would be even worse.

I had been wondering about the philosophical ramifications of torturing a ChatGPT persona. (I'm surprised I haven't seen more of that.) Now we can do it to our enemies.

Relevant Black Mirror episode: https://youtu.be/qgTtyfgzGc0

Re: The dead need right to delete their data so they can't be AI-ified, lawyer says

#107

Post by Nevermark »

efitz wrote: post #49

When you’re dead, you don’t have rights anymore because you’re not a person anymore. Anything of value that survived your death- property, money, IP rights, etc. now are part of an estate which is administered and distributed according to your will and/or state law. Other than your state’s law and your will, it’s not up to you what happens to your stuff after you die. Artifacts of your existence that you did not own,…

> distributed according to your will

So the dead do have rights, and a process for defining them.

Re: The dead need right to delete their data so they can't be AI-ified, lawyer says

#108

Post by Nevermark »

Nadya wrote: post #102
roywiggins wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way it mostly works is that if a company hires a Morgan Freeman impersonator to do the voice over for their car commercial, Morgan Freeman can sue them for using his likeness without permission: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/849... > We need not and do not go so far as to hold that every imitation of a voice to advertise merchandise is actionable. We hold only that when a distinctive vo…

So essentially only the rich and famous have any meaningful protection under the law. Have to love the legal system sometimes. Also sucks if you sound like Morgan Freeman. Put out of an entire line of work because someone was famous for sounding like you first.

If you not impersonating Morgan Freeman, and there is no history or framing to make that connection, he is unlikely to sue you, or win a lawsuit.

Courts are quite aware that similar things can come from divergent sources.

Even copyright law fails to protect commonality between works that would be illegal if actually copied, but were arrived at legitimately and credibly independently.

Not saying someone shouldn't use common sense to avoid problems. Don't do Morgan Freeman impersonations comedically, then voice overs of movies.

Re: The dead need right to delete their data so they can't be AI-ified, lawyer says

#109

Post by slyall »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #50
efitz wrote: post #49

When you’re dead, you don’t have rights anymore because you’re not a person anymore. Anything of value that survived your death- property, money, IP rights, etc. now are part of an estate which is administered and distributed according to your will and/or state law. Other than your state’s law and your will, it’s not up to you what happens to your stuff after you die. Artifacts of your existence that you did not own,…

Denmark to tackle deepfakes by giving people copyright to their own features - https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jun/27/deepfakes... - June 27th, 2025 As you mention, if copyright law codifies the rights, it then becomes trivial to stick the property rights to self into a trust or other post death entity for the estate to administer and enforce. The nation state policy is the hard part.

I've seen a few mentions of that law online. It completely overturns existing copyright law and has the potential for all sorts of problems.

ie If you take a photo and some random person is in the background what happens to the copyright of the picture?

Re: The dead need right to delete their data so they can't be AI-ified, lawyer says

#110

Post by pmarreck »

taway1a2b3c wrote: post #51
pmarreck wrote: post #3

I'm fine with being AI-ified.

Really? For what purpose?

I'm a 53 year old dad of a 4 year old son (the only kid I will ever have). Mortality looms. Who will advise him if something happens to me, other than a super intelligent AI who knows my values at a deep level and can imitate my responses?
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