Do meta want to immortalize our social media accounts?
In late December, the company was awarded a patent outlining how large-scale language models can “simulate” people’s social media activity, including responding to content posted by real people.
“The language model may be used to simulate a user when the user is away from the social networking system, such as when the user is on an extended vacation or when the user dies,” the patent states.
Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s chief technology officer, is listed as the lead author of the patent, which was first filed in 2023.
“We have no plans to move forward with this example,” a Meta spokesperson told Business Insider.
In its patent, Meta explains why it thinks people might need this.
If you stop posting online, whether it’s because you need to step away from social media or because…you…die, your followers’ user experience will be affected. In short, they miss you when you’re gone.
“If a user dies and is never able to return to the social networking platform, the impact on the user will be even more severe and permanent,” the document said.
To fill that void, Meta essentially creates a digital clone of your social media presence and trains a model on “user-specific” data, including past platform activity such as comments, likes, and content, to understand how users are behaving. will do (Or rather, did) behave.
The clone will be able to respond to other people’s content by liking, commenting, and replying to DMs. Such a tool could be useful for influencers and creators who make a living off Meta’s platform and need a break from social media.
Meta’s patent also mentions technology that allows LLM to simulate video or voice calls with users.
A Meta spokesperson said the company has applied for a patent to disclose the concept, but that a patent does not necessarily mean the company will pursue, develop or implement the technology.
Still, many questions arise about the nature of technology, and grief. An AI bot acting as your stand-in during a digital detox is another story, but how about imitating someone who has passed away?
Edina Harbinja, a UK-based professor at the University of Birmingham Law School, is concerned.
“It has implications not only for legal issues, but also for a number of very important social, ethical and deep philosophical questions,” Harbinja, who specializes in digital rights and postmortem privacy, told Business Insider.
Enter the grief tech business
Meta has been thinking about digital heritage management for many years.
About a decade ago, Facebook launched a tool that lets you designate a “legacy contact” to manage your account in the event of your death. And back in the company’s Metaverse days, in a 2023 interview with podcaster Rex Fridman, Mark Zuckerberg talked about virtual avatars of deceased people.
“If someone is grieving the loss of a loved one, there may be ways in which interacting with or reliving certain memories can be helpful,” Zuckerberg said at the time.
There are many names for this broad category of technology, including death bots, ghost bots, and grief technology. These aim to help people come to terms with the loss of a loved one, using a digital version to memorialize their loved one forever.
Several startups have been launched based on this premise, many born out of the founders’ own experiences with grief. Replika, an AI chatbot startup, was founded in 2015 by Eugenia Kuyda, who lost a friend. Next is You, Only Virtual (YOV). It was founded in 2020 by Justin Harrison when his mother was diagnosed with cancer.
“Everyone in the tech industry has been thinking about this for a while, right after the break in generative AI,” Harrison said.
In 2021, Microsoft patented an AI chatbot that can simulate deceased people (fictional characters and celebrities alike).
Harbinja said Meta’s patents show the technology category is moving more into the mainstream.
Harrison isn’t surprised to see big tech companies stepping into this space, seeing it as a sign that people are “starting to feel more comfortable working in this space.”
“We can only improve what we can offer people,” Harrison said, adding that the resources available to help with grief are “horrible” in the first place.
“I think we have a moral obligation to go above and beyond for those people if we have the ability,” he said.
However, AI, death, and grief are not easy topics to understand. The intersection of all three creates a potent brew of taboos ripe for philosophical discussions about ethics, digital rights, and privacy at every dinner table.
“Let the dead stay dead”
Meta not only helps people cope with grief, but also as an incentive to pursue the technology described in the patent, especially for accounts on hiatus.
“More engagement, more content, more data – more data for AI now and in the future,” Harbinja said. “I see the business incentive for it. I’m curious to know when, how, and if they will implement this innovation.”
Depending on how such a product is deployed, different questions may arise.
For example, will this apply to all apps on Meta? Will they understand the nuances of your presence on WhatsApp and your candor in the comments section on Instagram?
Joseph Davis, a sociology professor at the University of Virginia, said he is concerned about the impact tools like Metabot may have on the human experience of grief.
“One of the challenges of grief is facing the actual loss,” Davis said.
“Let the dead die,” Davis added. “The idea is to bring them back, but we’re not actually doing it, and it looks like we’re doing it. That’s the confusion.”
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