The Estate Registry
August 4th, 2025
Though this scenario may sound like it’s ripped from the pages of a science fiction novel, this form of digital necromancy will become increasingly visible as the development of AI technology accelerates.
When former CNN correspondent Jim Acosta promised a “one-of-a-kind interview”… this turned out to be an understatement. The “guest” in question for that episode of “The Jim Acosta Show” was Joaquin Oliver. Except, it wasn’t really Oliver. The real Joaquin Oliver was killed in 2018 at age 17 during the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The interviewee, such as it was, was an avatar of Joaquin Oliver created using artificial intelligence, with the permission of his father, Manuel “Manny” Oliver.
State laws are varied; federal legislation, nonexistent— Critically, there is no comprehensive federal statute governing posthumous AI likeness rights. Instead, there is a patchwork of state statutes, relevant estate planning documents and contract law. As such, estate planners must treat this issue as a form of digital asset protection and embed tailored language directly into the dispositive instruments to ensure clarity, control and enforceability… Proactive drafting is essential.
Chad D. Cummings, Cummings & Cummings Law, Bonita Springs, Florida
