Companions in Wills: What Happens After Death?

A new wave of estate-planning questions is emerging as chatbot companions move from practical tools to relationships people treat as friends or even family. The article says some users are writing instructions in wills about what should happen after they die—keeping a chatbot active, transferring management to relatives, or shutting it down permanently. It links the trend to growing anthropomorphism, noting that around 27% of U.S. adults regularly ask chatbots personal, emotional, or relationship questions, citing estimates from Elon University. It also references corporate moves, including a Meta patent for digital avatars that could continue interacting after a user’s death, and policy updates by Anthropic that prohibit aggressive or cruel behavior toward its Claude model. Legal and practical gaps remain because inheritance rules for synthetic identities are unclear.