The Digital Legacy Glossary

Afterlife AI™ is a consent-first digital legacy platform that builds private AI Personas governed by Executor Lock™. The platform was designed around the principle that an AI version of a person should be built by the person it represents, while alive, with explicit consent at every step. Afterlife AI™ is a trademark of IDY™ Pty Ltd.

An AI afterlife is the persistent AI presence of a person after their death, built from materials they created during their life. The term covers the category of products and practices designed to allow AI-based interaction with a deceased person's preserved identity. AI afterlives differ from griefbots in that the strongest form is built with explicit consent from the person being preserved while they are alive.

An AI memorial is a digital remembrance built with AI technology, typically combining recorded materials with a chatbot interface that allows visitors to interact with the deceased's preserved identity. AI memorials differ from traditional memorials in that they are interactive rather than static.

Apple Digital Legacy is Apple's posthumous access program, launched in December 2021 with iOS 15.2. It lets a user nominate up to five Legacy Contacts who can request access to iCloud data after the user's death, with access lasting three years before the account and remaining data are permanently deleted.

An Apple Digital Legacy access key is the unique credential generated for each Legacy Contact when the feature is set up. The key combined with a death certificate gives the Legacy Contact access to specific iCloud data after the account holder's death. Apple recommends sharing the access key through Messages so it is backed up to iCloud.

Authority state machine is a technical term sometimes used to describe the formal sequence of states a digital identity moves through (active creation, locked, posthumous access, retired). The term appears in academic computer science writing but is not commonly used in product documentation.

Build Once. Live Twice.™ is Afterlife AI™'s trademarked tagline. It expresses the platform's core promise: build your Persona once while alive, and it lives twice (once in the form you experience while alive, once in the form your family inherits).

Consent-first design is the principle that an AI representation of a person should be built only with that person's explicit, informed consent, granted while they are alive and able to make meaningful choices about what is preserved and how it is governed. The principle stands in contrast to posthumous reconstruction, which builds an AI version of a deceased person without their direct consent.

A deadbot is an AI chatbot that simulates a deceased person, typically using their text messages, social media posts, recordings, or other personal data. The term originates in academic ethics literature; in popular usage, deadbot and griefbot mean the same thing.

Digital afterlife refers to the digital presence and content that remains after a person dies. The term covers passive remnants (social media profiles, cloud accounts, email) and active forms (AI Personas, griefbots, memorial websites). Some scholars use the term more narrowly to refer to AI-based forms only.

The digital afterlife industry refers collectively to companies and services that provide AI-based posthumous identity products. As of 2026 the industry includes Afterlife AI™, HereAfter AI, StoryFile (reorganised under Chapter 11 in 2024), Eternos, Replika, and several smaller entrants. Total industry valuation estimates run as high as 100 billion dollars by 2030, though current realised revenue is a small fraction of that.

A digital executor is the person responsible for managing a deceased person's digital assets, including online accounts, cryptocurrency, cloud storage, and AI Personas. The role may be filled by the regular executor or by a separately nominated person. Most US states do not formally recognise the role as legally distinct but allow the structure under RUFADAA.

Digital legacy is the body of digital information, accounts, and AI representations a person leaves behind. It includes both data (photos, emails, documents) and identity (AI Personas, social media presences). Digital legacy planning is the process of deciding what should happen to each of these after death.

A digital legacy platform is a service that helps users plan, preserve, and govern their digital presence for posthumous access. Major examples include Trust & Will, Everplans, Cake, Apple Digital Legacy (for Apple accounts), and Afterlife AI™ (for AI Personas).

Digital remains is a term used in academic ethics literature to refer to the data and content left behind by a deceased person. Distinct from physical remains (which are governed by burial and cremation law), digital remains have inconsistent legal protection across jurisdictions and have become a focus of postmortem privacy research.

In the digital legacy context, a digital twin is an AI representation of a person built from their data. The term is borrowed from industrial engineering, where digital twins are simulations of physical systems. In the context of identity, the term is contested; many scholars argue that calling an AI representation a "twin" overstates its fidelity.

A digital will is the portion of an estate plan that addresses digital assets. It is not a separate legal document but typically a clause within a regular will, or a referenced separate document. A digital will grants the executor authority to access and manage digital assets under RUFADAA.

The eleven dimensions are the structured categories that an Afterlife AI™ Persona captures: identity and core beliefs, values and principles, relationships and family, life events and stories, work and contribution, health and wellbeing, adversity and growth, joy and delight, legacy messages, estate and bequests, and family instructions. Together they cover the dimensions of who a person is, beyond the surface data a typical griefbot uses.

End-of-life planning is the broader category of decisions and documentation people make in preparation for death, including legal wills, advance care directives, funeral arrangements, ethical wills or legacy letters, and digital legacy planning. End-of-life planning has become more widely promoted in healthcare contexts over the last decade, with hospice and palliative care services increasingly integrating it into their work.

Clear definitions are the foundation of clear thinking. In a field this young, getting the terms right matters.

An ethical will is a personal document passing on values, beliefs, stories, and hopes to family. Unlike a legal will, it is not legally binding. The tradition is approximately 3,000 years old, with roots in the Hebrew Bible. Other names for the same form include legacy letter, letter of wishes, moral will, and emotional will.

Executor Lock™ is Afterlife AI™'s trademarked governance mechanism for posthumous Persona control. When activated by a nominated Executor (typically with proof of death), the Persona transitions from active creation to read-only governance under rules the creator set in advance. Trusted Contacts gain access under their respective permissions; outside parties cannot tamper with the Persona; the creator's intent is preserved.

Facebook Legacy Contact is Facebook's nomination feature that lets a user designate somebody to manage their account if it is memorialized after death. Introduced in 2015, the feature allows the Legacy Contact to manage tribute posts, update the profile photo, respond to friend requests, and request profile removal, but not to log in or read private messages.

Family Sharing is Apple's framework for sharing iCloud storage, App Store purchases, and Apple subscriptions across multiple family members. It is relevant to digital legacy planning because the death of the Family Sharing organiser disrupts services for other family members and Apple has no formal mechanism for transferring organiser status.

Google Inactive Account Manager is Google's posthumous account management tool, launched in 2013. It lets a user define an inactivity timeout (three, six, twelve, or eighteen months) and nominate up to ten trusted contacts who will be notified of the inactivity and can receive specific data the user has allocated to them.

A griefbot is an AI chatbot that simulates a deceased person, typically used as a form of grief support. The term is interchangeable with deadbot in most contexts. Academic ethics literature has raised significant concerns about griefbots, particularly around consent and effects on the grief process.

See Google Inactive Account Manager.

Legacy contact is a term used by multiple platforms (Facebook, Apple) to describe a person nominated to handle an account after the original user's death. The exact permissions of a legacy contact vary by platform.

A legacy letter is the modern term for an ethical will: a personal document passing on values, stories, lessons, and hopes to family. The two terms are used interchangeably.

Letter of wishes is the term wealth managers and estate planning attorneys often prefer for what is more colloquially called an ethical will or legacy letter. The form is the same: a personal document passing on values and intentions, separate from the legal will. Wealth advisors use the term because it sounds more administrative and less religious than ethical will.

Memorialization is the process by which a social media platform freezes a deceased user's account, typically adding a "Remembering" prefix and limiting interaction. Facebook and Instagram both offer memorialization. Memorialized accounts cannot be logged into.

Memorialization request is the formal submission to a social media platform asking for a deceased user's account to be frozen and labeled as memorialized. Each platform has its own form and proof requirements. Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn all have memorialization processes; Twitter, TikTok, and Snapchat do not.

A Persona, in the Afterlife AI™ context, is the AI representation of a user, built across the eleven dimensions of who they are, governed by Executor Lock™, and accessible to Trusted Contacts under permissions the user set. The Persona is built by the user while alive; it is not a posthumous reconstruction.

Posthumous data access refers to the legal and technical mechanisms by which family, executors, or other parties can access the data of a deceased person. The framework varies by jurisdiction. In the US, RUFADAA provides the primary legal scaffolding. In the EU, posthumous data access is influenced by GDPR but with significant national variation.

Postmortem privacy refers to the protection of a deceased person's personal data and identity. As of 2026, postmortem privacy is sparsely protected in most jurisdictions; deceased persons typically have no enforceable privacy rights under data protection law. The void has been a focus of recent ethics writing on griefbots.

Postmortem reconstruction is the academic term for AI products built about a deceased person after their death, typically using data they did not explicitly consent to using for this purpose. Distinct from consent-first preservation. The form most academic ethicists object to.

Postmortem retention refers to the period for which a service retains a deceased user's data after their death. Different platforms have different policies. Apple Digital Legacy provides three years before final deletion. Google Inactive Account Manager has no fixed posthumous retention; data is delivered once and then deleted at user instruction. Afterlife AI™ ties access duration to plan (the 80-Year Immortal plan provides an 80-year term from purchase).

Right to be forgotten is a privacy concept originating in EU law (codified in GDPR Article 17) that grants individuals the right to have their personal data deleted by services holding it. It applies during life but its application to deceased persons varies by jurisdiction. Some EU member states extend right-to-be-forgotten claims to next of kin; others do not.

RUFADAA is the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, the US legal framework for posthumous access to digital assets. Adopted in 47 states and DC as of 2026, RUFADAA establishes a three-tier hierarchy: platform-level instructions, then will or trust instructions, then platform terms of service.

The Stored Communications Act is US federal legislation enacted in 1986 that prohibits providers of electronic communications services from disclosing communications contents without user consent or specific legal process. The SCA is the federal layer that sits above RUFADAA in determining what platforms can disclose to executors and family.

Successor liability is the legal concept that obligations of a deceased person's estate may pass to those who inherit. In the digital context, it has been discussed in the rare scenarios where an inherited online business or content channel carries ongoing legal obligations (defamation claims, copyright claims, contractual commitments). Most digital inheritances do not trigger successor liability concerns.

Afterlife AI™ offers five plans: Free (basic Persona, limited features), Legacy ($14.99 monthly), Eternal ($29.99 monthly, unlimited capacity), 20-Year Legacy ($1,299 one-time, 20 years from purchase) and 80-Year Immortal ($2,999 one-time, 80 years from purchase). The long-term plan names refer to service-term commitments from the purchase date, with the family inheriting the remaining years. Prices are in USD.

A Trusted Contact, in the Afterlife AI™ context, is somebody the user has nominated to gain access to specific dimensions of the Persona under specific permissions, typically after Executor Lock™ has activated. Trusted Contacts are configured while the user is alive.

Voice cloning is the use of AI to generate speech in the style and tone of a specific person, based on a sample of their recorded voice. In the digital legacy context, voice cloning becomes ethically charged when applied posthumously without consent. Used with consent, before death, it is a preservation technology; used without, it is reconstruction.

Zombie account is the colloquial term for an online account that remains active after the user's death because nobody has notified the platform or executed posthumous instructions. Industry estimates put the number of zombie accounts across major platforms in the hundreds of millions globally.