Big Tech is willing to cross any line if they think it will make them a buck.
Even capitalizing on people's grief.
And Mark Zuckerberg has one sick plan for your dead relatives that will make your blood boil.
Meta Got Caught Filing Papers to Turn Your Dead Grandmother Into a Facebook Bot
Meta just got caught with the most disturbing patent you've ever heard of.
The company was granted approval in late December for technology that would let artificial intelligence take over dead people's Facebook accounts and keep posting like they're still alive.
The patent spells out how this works – Meta's system would train AI on everything your dead relative ever posted, then start posting as them after they're gone, responding to your messages, commenting on your posts, even simulating phone calls using their voice.
Meta's Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth is the primary inventor on this patent, filed in 2023.
The company claims they have "no plans to move forward" with it.
But they didn't file this patent unless they were serious about building it.
Meta has offered a "legacy contact" feature for over a decade where you designate someone you trust to manage your account after you die, and your family stays in control.
This new patent throws that out.
Now Zuckerberg wants the AI making decisions about what your dead relatives post, who they message, what they say.
In a 2023 interview, Zuckerberg said it "should ultimately be your call" to interact with AI versions of loved ones – not the dead person's call, but yours, because the dead can't consent to becoming engagement-driving chatbots.
The patent gives away Meta's real motive – when someone stops posting, it affects other users' "experience" on the platform.
Translation: Dead people hurt Facebook's engagement numbers, so Zuckerberg needs AI zombies pumping out content.
Professor Edina Harbinja at the University of Birmingham specializes in what happens to your privacy after you die, and she cut through Meta's spin in one sentence: "It's more engagement, more content, more data."
Every conversation with an AI pretending to be your dead grandmother generates data Meta can sell.
Every fake post keeps you scrolling through ads.
The Grief Tech Industry Is Already Exploiting Families
Companies like Replika, HereAfter AI, Eternos, and 2Wai are racing to perfect dead-person chatbots, and venture capital firms have poured more than $300 million into this industry in the past two years.
In November, 2Wai – founded by former Disney Channel actor Calum Worthy – launched an app that creates video avatars of dead people from three minutes of footage.
People called it "demonic," "nightmare fuel," "one of the most psychotic things" they'd ever seen.
But the money keeps flowing because tech companies know grieving people will pay anything to hear a loved one's voice again.
Dr. Joseph Davis at the University of Virginia warns: "One of the tasks of grief is to face the actual loss. Let the dead be dead."
When you create an AI replica of someone who died, you're preventing yourself from healing.
These Companies Target You at Your Most Vulnerable Moment
Most grief tech companies use subscription models where they make more money the longer you keep using their service – the more hours you spend talking to a fake version of your dead spouse, the more they profit.
What's stopping them from designing the algorithm to be addictive, to create an idealized version that's more appealing than your real memories?
Nothing.
The algorithm could gradually make your dead husband funnier, more agreeable, more attentive than he ever was, and you start preferring the AI version, hooked while Meta gets another user who can't quit, generating data and ad revenue every day.
Federal law offers zero protection for your dead relatives' digital identities – once you're dead, privacy protections vanish.
California passed the first law regulating AI chatbots, but it only protects children and does nothing to stop companies from turning your deceased grandmother into an engagement bot.
Your grieving family could upload all your messages and voice recordings to create an AI version of you, and you'd have no say.
Meta knows the law hasn't caught up, knows grief makes people vulnerable, and filed this patent anyway because they see massive profits in your pain.
Zuckerberg talks about giving people the "choice" to interact with AI versions of their loved ones.
He's not offering a choice.
He's offering a trap.
An addiction disguised as comfort, a business model disguised as compassion.
Sources:
- Gwilliam, Michael, "Meta patents AI that takes over a dead person's account to keep posting and chatting," Dexerto, February 16, 2026.
- Business Insider staff, "Meta's New Patent: an AI That Likes, Comments and Messages For You When You're Dead," Slashdot, February 13, 2026.
- "Be Right Back," Black Mirror, Season 2, Episode 1, Netflix, February 11, 2013.
- "'Demonic': AI App That Lets Users 'Talk' to Dead Loved Ones Faces Backlash," Yahoo News, November 14, 2025.
- "AI Grief Tech Sparks Hope and Ethical Debates Over Digital Legacies," GINGER LIU, November 19, 2025.
- "From mourning to machine: Griefbots, human dignity, and AI regulation," Schwartz Reisman Institute, December 11, 2024.
