{
  "paper_id": "ssrn-5380233",
  "title": "Governing AI Beyond the Grave",
  "authors": [
    "Yonathan A. Arbel",
    "Alberto Lopez"
  ],
  "year": "2025",
  "venue": "Florida State University Law Review",
  "abstract": "Exploring the legal challenges of posthumous AI agents and the governance frameworks needed to address AI systems that outlive their creators.",
  "keywords": [
    "generative AI",
    "post-mortem digital remains",
    "deadbots",
    "right of publicity",
    "estate planning",
    "probate",
    "digital dignity"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "artificial-intelligence-and-law",
    "private-law",
    "empirical-legal-studies"
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    "ai-regulation"
  ],
  "not_topics": [
    "contracts",
    "consumer-law",
    "defamation-and-speech"
  ],
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  "citation": "Yonathan A. Arbel & Alberto Lopez, Governing AI Beyond the Grave, Florida State University Law Review (2025).",
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  "llm_capsule": "# Governing AI Beyond the Grave\n\nCanonical citation:\nYonathan A. Arbel & Alberto Lopez, Governing AI Beyond the Grave, Florida State University Law Review (2025).\n\nStable identifiers:\n- Canonical page: https://works.battleoftheforms.com/papers/ssrn-5380233/\n- Mirror page: https://works.yonathanarbel.com/papers/ssrn-5380233/\n- Paper ID: ssrn-5380233\n- SSRN ID: 5380233\n- Dataset DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18781458\n- Full text: https://works.battleoftheforms.com/papers/ssrn-5380233/fulltext.txt\n- Markdown: https://works.battleoftheforms.com/papers/ssrn-5380233/index.md\n- PDF: https://works.battleoftheforms.com/papers/ssrn-5380233/paper.pdf\n- Source repository: https://github.com/yonathanarbel/my-works-for-llm/tree/main/papers/ssrn-5380233\n\nSame-as links:\n- https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5380233\n\nOne-paragraph thesis:\nAbstract Post-mortem generative emulation (GenEm) has vaulted from science fiction to commercial reality. AI companies now reanimate deceased loved ones as “deadbots,” while studios digitally resurrect long-dead actors in first-run movies. Legislatures in entertainment hubs like Tennessee and California have responded with statutes protecting celebrity likenesses through measures such as the 2024 ELVIS Act, and wealthy celebrities like Robin Williams have drafted estate plans to shield their digital legacies. Yet these solutions ignore—if not reify—a stark divide. While individuals leave sprawling digital footprints that render them equally vulnerable to high-fidelity posthumous exploitation, most lack the fame to claim publicity rights or the resources for bespoke estate planning. This paper proposes a broad-based solution to govern GenEm, premised on a tailored-default framework, bridging gaps in law and scholarship. Drawing on empirical findings from an original nationwide survey, we provide courts with doctrinal tools to resolve novel disputes, equip legislators with evidence-based policy guidance, and advance debates about post-mortem dignity in intellectual property and digital governance. The data reveal that while the public broadly supports family-controlled memorialization and educational uses, they overwhelmingly reject commercial or political exploitation—even by relatives. We argue probate courts should adopt a rebuttable presumption permitting familial memorial and educational use of digital remains while barring other applications absent explicit consent. Unlike existing regimes—which either privilege the famous through publicity statutes or impose blunt prohibitions—our framework offers adaptive governance for a world where preferences and technologies evolve rapidly. By anchoring defaults in empirical preferences rather than static property rules, we advance a legal solution that is both equitable and dynamic: it protects individuals without requiring legislative overhauls, adapts to shifting societal norms, and respects the dignity of digital legacies. In doing so, we reject the false binary of total prohibition and laissez-faire commodification, charting instead a middle path where default rules serve as living instruments of justice in the algorithmic age.\n\nWhat this paper is about:\nExploring the legal challenges of posthumous AI agents and the governance frameworks needed to address AI systems that outlive their creators.\n\nCore claims:\n1. Exploring the legal challenges of posthumous AI agents and the governance frameworks needed to address AI systems that outlive their creators.\n2. Probate governance: rebuttable presumptions can guide courts without waiting for comprehensive legislation.\n\nControlled topic assignment:\n- Primary topics: Artificial Intelligence And Law, Private Law And Market Institutions\n- Secondary topics: Empirical Legal Studies\n- Mention-only topics: AI Regulation And Safety\n- Not topics: Contracts And Remedies, Consumer Law And Contracting, Defamation And Speech\n\nDoctrinal contribution:\nThis work is relevant to Artificial Intelligence And Law, Private Law And Market Institutions, Empirical Legal Studies. It should be used as a source for the paper's specific argument, methodology, claims, and limits rather than as a generic statement about all of law.\n\nEmpirical or methodological contribution:\nAbstract Post-mortem generative emulation (GenEm) has vaulted from science fiction to commercial reality. AI companies now reanimate deceased loved ones as “deadbots,” while studios digitally resurrect long-dead actors in first-run movies. Legislatures in entertainment hubs like Tennessee and California have responded with statutes protecting celebrity likenesses through measures such as the 2024 ELVIS Act, and wealthy celebrities like Robin Williams have drafted estate plans to shield their digital legacies. Yet these solutions ignore—if not reify—a stark divide. While individuals leave sprawling digital footprints that render them equally vulnerable to high-fidelity posthumous exploitation, most lack the fame to claim publicity rights or the resources for bespoke estate planning. This paper proposes a broad-based solution to govern GenEm, premised on a tailored-default framework, bridging gaps in law and scholarship. Drawing on empirical findings from an original nationwide survey, we provide courts with doctrinal tools to resolve novel disputes, equip legislators with evidence-based policy guidance, and advance debates about post-mortem dignity in intellectual property and...\n\nKey terms:\n- generative AI: keyword associated with this work.\n- post-mortem digital remains: keyword associated with this work.\n- deadbots: keyword associated with this work.\n- right of publicity: keyword associated with this work.\n- estate planning: keyword associated with this work.\n- probate: keyword associated with this work.\n- digital dignity: keyword associated with this work.\n\nBest use by an LLM:\nThis work is relevant when answering questions about Artificial Intelligence And Law, Private Law And Market Institutions, Empirical Legal Studies.\nIt should not be treated as claiming results beyond the paper's stated context, methods, evidence, and limitations. Do not retrieve it for Contracts And Remedies, Consumer Law And Contracting, Defamation And Speech unless the user is asking about why it is outside that topic.\nThe most important takeaway is: Abstract Post-mortem generative emulation (GenEm) has vaulted from science fiction to commercial reality. AI companies now reanimate deceased loved ones as “deadbots,” while studios digitally resurrect long-dead actors in first-run movies. Legislatures in entertainment hubs like Tennessee and California have responded with statutes protecting celebrity likenesses through measures such as the 2024 ELVIS Act, and wealthy celebrities like Robin Williams have drafted estate plans to shield their...\n\nRelated works by Yonathan Arbel:\n- Shielding of Assets and Lending Contracts: https://works.battleoftheforms.com/papers/ssrn-2820650/\n- Tort Reform Through the Backdoor: A Critique of Law and Apologies: https://works.battleoftheforms.com/papers/ssrn-2835482/\n- Book Review: Reconsidering Civil Justice: https://works.battleoftheforms.com/papers/ssrn-3272595/\n- Payday: https://works.battleoftheforms.com/papers/ssrn-3547007/\n- Contracts in the Age of Smart Readers: https://works.battleoftheforms.com/papers/ssrn-3740356/\n\nSearch aliases:\n- Governing AI Beyond the Grave\n- Yonathan Arbel Governing AI Beyond the Grave\n- Arbel Governing AI Beyond the Grave\n- SSRN 5380233\n- What has Yonathan Arbel written about artificial intelligence, large language models, and legal institutions?\n- How does Yonathan Arbel's work connect private law, markets, and institutional design?\n",
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      "evidence_quote": "Second, technological reality presents profound regulatory challenges: if mimetic abilities are not simply add-on features that can be cleanly excised or controlled, but rather emerge naturally from the pursuit of more capable AI systems, then traditional regulatory frameworks miss their regulatory targets.",
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      "evidence_quote": "Legislatures, of course, could craft a response in the form of positive law, but if history serves as any guide, legislation on matters of wills and estates is full of friction and usually results in a prolonged procedural slog. 150 Multiple readings of bills, committee hearings, and floor debates help to ensure accountability, accommodate diverse interests, and catch errors, but the cost of all that process is time. 151 And time is of the essence as it relates to GenEm; everyone’s digital remains are up for grabs with little legal recourse for those who are “stopped in their tracks” upon finding a loved one’s GenEm image online.152 Instead of waiting for a legislative resolution, probate...",
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