Meta was recently granted a patent that outlines how the company could use a large language model (LLM) to simulate a user’s entire digital persona on its social networking systems. This technology is designed to create a digital clone of you that responds to content posted by real people, maintaining your social presence even when you can’t, as reported by Business Insider.
The patent, which was filed in 2023 and lists Meta’s CTO Andrew Bosworth as the primary author, lays out the plan for an AI understudy. It’s supposed to step in if you are “absent from the social networking system, for example, when the user takes a long break or if the user is deceased,” according to the document.
To pull this off, Meta would train the LLM on your user-specific data. We’re talking about every comment, every like, and every piece of content you’ve ever posted. This information would teach the model exactly how you would behave, allowing the clone to engage with other users by commenting, liking, or even responding to direct messages. The patent even references tech that would allow the LLM to simulate video or audio calls with users, effectively creating a fully interactive digital ghost.
Meta is trying to spin it as something else entirely, though
Why would Meta want to bother with this? The company states its rationale is essentially to fill a void. If you stop posting online, your followers’ experience is affected because they miss you. The document notes that “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.”
While the idea of an AI bot managing your DMs during a digital detox is one thing, imitating people who have died raises some serious issues. Edina Harbinja, a UK-based professor specializing in digital rights and post-mortem privacy, says this technology affects not only legal issues but also “a lot of very important social, ethical, and deeply philosophical issues as well.”
Joseph Davis, a sociology professor, worries about the impact such tools could have on the grieving process itself. He believes this technology fundamentally confuses the process of loss. “One of the tasks of grief is to face the actual loss,” Davis stated, adding, “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.”
This concept of “grief tech” isn’t entirely new. Meta has been thinking about managing digital legacies for years; about a decade ago, Facebook launched tools allowing users to designate a legacy contact for their accounts after death. Back in 2023, CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke about creating virtual avatars for deceased people, saying, “If someone has lost a loved one and is grieving, there may be ways in which being able to interact or relive certain memories could be helpful.”
Despite the patent being granted, a spokesperson for Meta stated that the company has “no plans to move forward with this example.” They noted that filing patents, like Sony recently patenting “ghost players,” is standard practice to disclose concepts, but it doesn’t guarantee implementation.
However, the business incentive is still crystal clear. As Professor Harbinja pointed out, this technology means “more engagement, more content, more data, more data for the current and the future AI.”
Published: Feb 17, 2026 03:00 pm