Digital Resurrection And Posthumous Personality Rights In The AI Era
- IJLLR Journal
- May 20
- 1 min read
Ashok Kumar Ratan, Assam University, Silchar
Lov Ojha, Assam University, Silchar
ABSTRACT
The technological advancements we are witnessing today in generative AI and generative technologies are creating the ability to digitally resurrect someone who has passed away through methods such as deep fakes and generative voice, digital avatars, and interactive chatbots. While there is a clear commercial and emotional interest in the use of these technologies, the increasing use of these technologies also raises very serious legal questions that are not addressed by existing legal frameworks including: Does a person have any rights to their likeness, identity, or persona after they die? Who owns a deceased person’s digital likeness? (Heirs, Companies, or the public?). How do existing laws regarding intellectual property, privacy, or publicity apply to the postmortem exploitation of a deceased person’s digital likeness? This article will analyze the concept of digital resurrection through a tripartite analysis of Indian law, comparative international law, and ethical philosophy; the analysis will conclude with a recommendation that the absence of a clear, comprehensive, and coherent legal framework regarding the posthumous rights to personalities will create a significant gap in the law that must be addressed through legislation. Furthermore, we will advocate for a new category of posthumous personality rights that will be separate from existing intellectual property or data protection legislation and will survive death; will vest in a clearly defined class of individuals.
Keywords: Digital Resurrection, Posthumous Personality Rights, Deepfakes, Right of Publicity, Artificial Intelligence, Data Protection, Identity Rights, Post-Mortem Privacy, Generative AI, Indian Law.
