While rigid control from the grave is destructive, establishing guiding principles for future generations is essential. The key is balancing dead-hand control (e.g., protecting assets from divorce) with significant flexibility to allow future trustees to adapt to unforeseen life events.

Sam Altman forecasts a shift where celebrities and brands move from fearing unauthorized AI use to complaining if their likenesses aren't featured enough. They will recognize AI platforms as a vital channel for publicity and fan connection, flipping the current defensive posture on its head.

AI video platform Synthesia built its governance on three pillars established at its founding: never creating digital replicas without consent, moderating all content before generation, and collaborating with governments on practical regulation. This proactive framework is core to their enterprise strategy.

AI apps creating interactive digital avatars of deceased loved ones are becoming technologically and economically viable. While framed as preserving a legacy, this "digital immortality" raises profound questions about the grieving process and emotional boundaries, for which society lacks the psychological and ethical frameworks.

The controversy over AI-generated content extends far beyond intellectual property. The emotional distress caused to families, as articulated by Zelda Williams regarding deepfakes of her late father, highlights a profound and often overlooked human cost of puppeteering the likenesses of deceased individuals.

The AI Scott Adams channel was banned from YouTube for potentially confusing users, not for a clear legal violation. This demonstrates that platform policies and their opaque enforcement mechanisms are currently a more immediate and powerful regulator of AI-generated content than established right-of-publicity laws.

Actors like Bryan Cranston challenging unauthorized AI use of their likeness are forcing companies like OpenAI to create stricter rules. These high-profile cases are establishing the foundational framework that will ultimately define and protect the digital rights of all individuals, not just celebrities.

The shift from "Copyright" to "Content Detection" in YouTube Studio is a strategic response to AI. The platform is moving beyond protecting just video assets to safeguarding a creator's entire digital identity—their face and voice. This preemptively addresses the rising threat of deepfakes and unauthorized AI-generated content.

AI services that simulate conversations with deceased loved ones, while ethically controversial, will likely achieve product-market fit. They tap into the powerful and universal human fear of loss, creating durable demand from those experiencing grief, much like how people use chatbots for companionship.