PROBATE CORNER
PROBATE CORNER
Griefbots- Digitally Immortal Decedents( Continued)
DAVID M. GARTEN
( b) California Civil Code § 3344.1( Celebrity Rights Act) establishes the descendible right of publicity, which allows the right of publicity to survive the death of a person for 70 years after their death. This right protects against unauthorized use of a person ' s name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness for advertising or trade purposes, even after they have passed away. On September 17, 2024, California amended Civil Code § 3344.1( eff. 1 / 1 / 25) by expanding the existing postmortem rights of deceased personalities to include their AI generated“ digital replicas” and laid down new penalties for violating those post-mortem digital replica rights. representation that is readily identifiable as the voice or visual likeness of an individual that is embodied in a sound recording, image, audiovisual work, or transmission in which the actual individual either did not actually perform or appear, or the actual individual did perform or appear, but the fundamental character of the performance or appearance has been materially altered.” Refer to California Civil Code § 3344.1( a)( 2)( B)( ii)
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Holographing the dead is becoming nostalgia-based big business. For example, Kanye West made headlines in 2020 with his birthday present to Kim Kardashian of a holograph of her late father, Robert Kardashian using deepfake technology.
( c) European Union ' s Artificial Intelligence Act. On 7 / 12 / 24, the European Union ' s Artificial Intelligence Act, Regulation( EU) 2024 / 1689(" EU AI Act ") was published in the EU Official Journal, making it the first comprehensive legal framework for the regulation of AI systems across the EU. The EU AI Act went into effect across all 27 EU Member States on August 1, 2024 and bans certain AI practices across the EU which it considers harmful, abusive and in contradiction with EU values. General questions and answers regarding the EU AI Act can be found at: https:// ec. europa. eu / commission / presscorner / detail / en / qanda _ 21 _ 1683
III. Practitioner’ s Corner:
Pending future legislation giving the decedent’ s fiduciaries and heirs the exclusive right to the decedent’ s digital replica, you might consider including a griefbot clause in your client’ s estate planning documents. At the very least, this will be an interesting topic for discussion with your clients and their family.
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A“ digital replica” is defined as:“ a computergenerated, highly realistic electronic
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