The founder of a Fortune 500 company is among those who have signed up for a digital afterlife.
The chief executive, in his 80s, is one of 25 people whose personalities will be recreated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in a trial project.
MIT’s Hossein Rahnama said the idea was to use social media data to train an avatar to behave similarly.
He said of the Fortune 500 CEO: “The avatar of the CEO was not really telling people what to do, but could share an opinion about likes or dislikes.
“AI is in no way close to a state that can truly represent our intuition... however, it has reached a level that allows a glimpse of these emotional legacies.”
It is not clear whether new Twitter boss Elon Musk is among volunteers but he has shown interest in the concept.
Mr Rahnama added: "Early on, the notion was that AI is going to mimic exactly how an individual responds.
“For instance, “might it be possible to replicate the knowledge held by experienced professionals? Can people seek legal opinions from the avatar of a famous lawyer?
“It was relatively easy to map those knowledge bases.”
On the scheme are young people looking to build a legacy that will outlast them. Some are terminally ill and want to leave something behind for loved ones.
He added: "I started to get a lot of emails from all sorts of people, interested to map their know-how and expertise and share it with a loved one.
“There were people who were terminally ill. Usually, they have someone in their life whom they are very, very emotionally attached. And it is often the request of that loved one."
