Mark Wahlberg wants his children to control his AI clone. Here is how anyone can name who controls theirs
On October 15, 2026, closing TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, Mark Wahlberg said he would be open to an AI version of himself carrying on his work, as long as his children or grandchildren were in charge of his likeness. One of the biggest stars in Hollywood just described the exact question Afterlife.ai™ was built to answer: who decides what your AI self does after you die. This guide covers what he said, what the law already says, and how you can put your own family in charge, in writing, today.
Mark Wahlberg is open to an AI version of himself carrying on his work after he dies, on one condition: his children or grandchildren are in charge of it. He said so on October 15, 2026, closing TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco. That condition is the whole game. A likeness is only safe when the person decides, while alive and in writing, who holds the keys afterwards. Film stars can negotiate that with studios and agencies. On Afterlife.ai™ anyone can set it up free: build a Persona from your own memories and voice, and name the people who take over under Executor Lock™.
What Mark Wahlberg said | Where and when | Source |
|---|---|---|
He is open to an AI version of himself carrying on his work | TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, Moscone Center, San Francisco, October 15, 2026, in conversation with TechCrunch editor in chief Connie Loizos | |
His children or grandchildren could be "in charge of my likeness and my image" | Same session | |
He would not be opposed if his animated series "Ted" continued for decades with an AI version of his likeness | Same session | |
He has not visited the CAA Vault, where actors are scanned for AI replicas, and has not been invited | Same session | |
AI should enhance films, not replace actors with scripts generated in ChatGPT | Same session | |
He plans to use AI to enhance the stadium scenes in his Pete Rose film | Same session |
Hollywood has argued about AI replicas for three years, mostly about what studios may do to actors. Wahlberg turned the question around. He did not ask whether his likeness should outlive him; he treated that as likely. He asked who should be in charge of it, and his answer was his family. Every person with a phone full of voice notes and a lifetime of stories now faces the same question, and almost nobody has answered it in writing.
Afterlife.ai™ exists because of that question. Idy built the governance first, before the product: a system called Executor Lock™ that lets you name the people who take over your AI self, requires a verified death report and a human review before anything changes hands, and then seals your Persona so nobody, family included, can turn you into someone you were not. This page explains what Wahlberg said, what the law covers, where his instinct is exactly right, and the one place we would go further.
By Chris Williams, founder of Idy®, the company behind Afterlife.ai™. Published October 22, 2026.
Decide who holds the keys to your AI self.
Build your Persona from your own memories and voice, then name the people who take over.
Meet your Persona free, no cardDefinitions
AI likeness: an AI-generated version of a real person's face, voice, body or manner, also called a digital replica or an AI clone.
CAA Vault: a facility run by the talent agency Creative Artists Agency where actors can have their faces, bodies, movements and voices scanned to create AI replicas for future work.
Persona: the AI version of you that you build on Afterlife.ai™ from your own memories, values, face and cloned voice, which talks in your words to the people you choose.
Executor Lock™: Idy's patent-pending system of named executors, Trusted Contacts, a verified death report and a sealed snapshot of your Persona that nobody can ever change.
What did Mark Wahlberg say about an AI clone?
Wahlberg closed TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco on October 15, drawing the biggest crowd of the three-day conference, according to KRON4, in a conversation with TechCrunch editor in chief Connie Loizos. Asked whether he had been to the CAA Vault, where actors can be scanned to create AI replicas, he said he had not and had not been invited, but that he would be interested.
Then he went further than most actors have in public. He said it would be cool if his children or grandchildren were "in charge of my likeness and my image," and that they could hopefully put him in some good movies (TechCrunch). He added that he would not be opposed if his upcoming animated series "Ted" continued for decades with an AI version of his likeness.
He was just as clear about the limits. He said AI should enhance what filmmakers do, such as the stadium scenes in his planned Pete Rose film, and he rejected the idea of typing a prompt into ChatGPT and producing a script without real actors. His position, in short: AI as a tool, real people at the center, and family in control of the likeness.
Why is Mark Wahlberg's answer a big deal?
Most of the public debate about AI replicas has been about permission: whether a studio, an app or a stranger may copy a person at all. Wahlberg skipped to the harder question, which is succession. Once a convincing AI version of you exists, someone has to decide what it does after you die, and that someone will be either a person you chose or whoever ends up holding the files.
The second outcome is not hypothetical. In October 2026 Character.AI, the chatbot app with about 12 million monthly users, filed for bankruptcy, and its users' chats became part of what a bankruptcy court may now sell, as our guide to the Character.AI bankruptcy explains. When a company holds a likeness and the person has not decided who controls it, the answer gets written by a judge, a buyer or a terms-of-service page. Wahlberg's instinct, to hand the keys to his own family, is the right one. The point is to do it before anyone else gets the chance.
For Idy, this is the clearest public statement yet of the problem we set out to solve. We built Executor Lock™ before we built the conversation, because consent, death, inheritance and control are the hard part of personal AI. Idy holds 78 patents pending on that governance, and in 2025 Idy filed more standard patent applications than any Australian organization except Aristocrat, ahead of CSIRO, ResMed and the University of Melbourne (IP Australia, Australian IP Report 2026).
What does the law say about AI likenesses after death?
California, home of the film industry, already has two rules on the books. AB 1836, signed in September 2024, makes anyone who uses a digital replica of a deceased performer in a film, TV show or sound recording without the estate's consent liable for at least $10,000 or actual damages. AB 2602 protects living performers: a contract term that lets a studio use a digital replica in place of work the performer would have done in person is unenforceable unless the intended uses are reasonably specific and the performer had a lawyer or union in the negotiation. Both took effect on January 1, 2025 (Manatt). In 2023, SAG-AFTRA also won consent and pay requirements for digital replicas in its contract with the studios.
Notice what those laws protect: performers, and mostly against studios. They say an estate must consent; they do not say who in a family speaks for the estate, what the person actually wanted, or what an AI version may and may not say. For everyone who is not a film star there is often no specific rule at all, which leaves the decision to whatever a platform's terms say. Our guide to deepfake laws by country covers the patchwork outside California.
The CAA Vault is for stars. What about everyone else?
The CAA Vault shows where the top of the industry is heading: a studio-grade scan of an actor's face, body, movement and voice, held by their agency for future work. Wahlberg has not been inside yet. Most people never will be, and they do not need to be, because the most valuable record of a person is not a body scan. It is what they remember, what they believe, how they tell a story and how they sound when they tell it.
That is what a Persona on Afterlife.ai™ is built from. You meet your Persona in about two minutes by talking, your Persona answers in your words and your own cloned voice, and Persona Video turns your Persona into video messages in your own face and voice from one 30-second recording. Nobody else can build your Persona: our Terms bar anyone from building a Persona of another person without that person's explicit written consent or their estate's (section 5.1).
How do you put your family in charge of your AI likeness?
These are the steps on Afterlife.ai™. You can start free, with no card, and the first steps take a few minutes.
Build your Persona. Sign up and talk. Afterlife.ai™ is for adults 18 and over.
Record your voice. Your Persona then answers in your own cloned voice.
Name your executors and Trusted Contacts. Choose the people who will hold the keys, the role Wahlberg would give his children and grandchildren. Each one accepts the job in writing.
Decide who may hear your Persona. You can name the people who may talk to your Persona now, later, or only after your death.
Let Executor Lock™ do the rest. After a verified death report, a human review and a seven-day cooling-off, your Persona becomes a sealed snapshot of every memory as it stood that day, and your release rules decide who may hear your Persona.
Where would we go further than Mark Wahlberg?
Wahlberg imagines his family putting an AI version of him into new films. For an actor whose work is performance, that is a reasonable wish, and it is his to make. It also shows why the rules have to come from the person rather than be left to the heirs: the same keys that can put you in a good movie can put words in your mouth that you never said.
Executor Lock™ takes a firm position on that. Your named executors decide who may hear your Persona, but at the lock your Persona becomes a sealed snapshot, and nothing can change your personality after that; our Terms make the lock permanent and irreversible (section 8.3). Your family holds the keys, and nobody, including us, gets to rewrite who you were. If Idy is ever sold, our rights and obligations are assignable to a successor entity (section 16.4), so the rules you set travel with your Persona instead of ending up in a bankruptcy court.
Hold the keys to your AI self.
Name the people who take over, in writing, before anyone else decides.
See how Executor Lock™ worksFrequently asked questions
Does Mark Wahlberg have an AI clone?
No AI clone of Wahlberg has been announced. At TechCrunch Disrupt on October 15, 2026, he said he had not visited the CAA Vault and had not been invited, but that he would be interested, and that he would be open to an AI version of himself if his children or grandchildren were in charge of it.
What did Mark Wahlberg say about AI at TechCrunch Disrupt?
He said AI should enhance filmmaking rather than replace actors, that he plans to use it for the stadium scenes in his Pete Rose film, and that it would be cool if his children or grandchildren were in charge of his likeness and image.
What is the CAA Vault?
A facility run by Creative Artists Agency where actors can have their faces, bodies, movements and voices scanned to create AI replicas for future work.
Who controls your AI likeness after you die?
Unless you decide in writing, the answer usually comes from the law where you live and the terms of whatever service holds your data. In California, using a deceased performer's digital replica requires the estate's consent under AB 1836. On Afterlife.ai™ you name your own executors under Executor Lock™.
Can I make an AI of myself that my family controls after I die?
Yes. On Afterlife.ai™ you build a Persona of yourself from your own memories and cloned voice, name your executors and Trusted Contacts, and set who may hear your Persona. After a verified death report, a human review and a seven-day cooling-off, your Persona becomes a sealed snapshot that nobody can change.
Can my family make my AI say new things after I die?
Not on Afterlife.ai™. Your named executors decide who may hear your Persona, but at the lock your Persona becomes a sealed snapshot of every memory, and nothing can change your personality after that.
Can someone make an AI clone of a celebrity or another person?
Not on Afterlife.ai™. Our Terms bar anyone from building a Persona of another person without that person's explicit written consent or their estate's (section 5.1). In California, using a deceased performer's digital replica also requires the estate's consent.
Is it free to build an AI of yourself?
You can build your Persona on Afterlife.ai™ free, with no card. It is for adults 18 and over.
How we researched this page
Mark Wahlberg's statements come from TechCrunch's report of his October 15, 2026 session at TechCrunch Disrupt, by Aisha Malik, and from KRON4's coverage, syndicated on Yahoo, of the same event; quotes are kept short and checked against both. The CAA Vault description follows TechCrunch. California's AB 1836 and AB 2602 are summarized from Manatt's client alert on the 2024 laws. Afterlife.ai™ facts come from our Terms of Service, sections 2.1, 5.1, 8.3 and 16.4, and from the live product, checked October 22, 2026. Mark Wahlberg has no connection to Afterlife.ai™ or Idy, and nothing on this page suggests that he endorses us.