It has come to light that Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC, an affiliate of Meta Platforms, has obtained a U.S. patent (US12513102B2) for an AI system designed to simulate user activity on social networking services (SNS). The patent was granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
What this patent signifies is the institutional protection of a technology that enables “the continuation of posts and responses in a manner consistent with a user’s personality, even in their absence.” Notably, the background section of the patent specification refers not only to long-term absence but also to the “possibility of death.” This goes well beyond a simple auto-reply function. It presents a concept worthy of examination from technological, business, and ethical perspectives.
The Technical Architecture — Reconstructing “User-Likeness”
According to the patent specification, the system generates a training dataset based on a target user’s historical posts, comments, reactions, and messages, and uses this data to personalize a language model.
The core components can be organized into three main elements:
- A bot associated with a specific user.
- A language model fine-tuned using that user’s historical data.
- A content generation mechanism that automatically produces posts and replies.
The critical point is that this is not a matter of a third party taking over an account. Instead, a model grounded in historical data behaves “as a proxy.” In other words, this is not merely an issue of account control, but one of reproducing expressions of personality.
The bot is envisioned not only as responding to comments and messages from other users, but also as continuously generating and posting new content. Conceptually, this approaches the substitution of an active subject, rather than the provision of a supporting function.
Why “Absence” Becomes a Problem
The background section of the patent notes that prolonged inactivity by a target user may affect the experience of other users. SNS platforms are structured around network effects: the absence of active participants can ripple through a community’s vitality and engagement levels.
From the platform operator’s perspective, this is an issue of continuity of experience. When a user disappears abruptly, it may create structural voids within the community. The idea of having AI fill that gap is understandable within the logic of the platform economy.
However, the explicit reference to the possibility of death carries implications beyond simple engagement retention. Here, the issue shifts from the continuation of usage to the continuation of presence.
Digital Clones and the Intersection with Personality Rights
In recent years, discussions surrounding “digital clones” and “posthumous AI” have intensified both domestically and internationally. Efforts to reconstruct a person’s characteristic speech and behavior from historical data may offer psychological comfort, but they also raise profound ethical concerns and discomfort.
Key issues include:
- The question of consent — to what extent should a person permit their likeness to be reconstructed after death?
- The psychological impact on surviving family members and associates.
- The scope of privacy and data usage.
- The ontological question: “Is it truly the person?”
A patent protects a technical concept; it does not guarantee implementation or social legitimacy. There is currently no confirmed public plan for Meta to commercialize this technology immediately. Nevertheless, the fact that rights have been secured suggests that potential future business applications are being considered.
The “Extension of Personhood” in the Platform Era
What this patent suggests is a shift toward treating user accounts not merely as login credentials, but as datafied assets of personality. Historical posts become not just records, but raw material for regenerable models.
This gives rise to the concept of an extension of personhood — a worldview in which an expressive agent based on data continues to act even after the human’s physical existence has ceased. While this may function positively in commemorative contexts, careful institutional design will be required in commercial settings.
The Meaning of the Patent Itself
The patent was filed on November 29, 2023, published on May 29, 2025 (US20250175448A1), and granted on December 30 of the same year. The role of a patent is to secure the exclusive legal right to practice a technical idea.
Accordingly, this should be understood not as a feature already in service, but as the enclosure of a technological option that could be implemented in the future. Given the scale of the platform involved, however, the potential impact is considerable.
Conclusion — Technology Enables, but Will Society Permit?
The fact that the continuation of posts and responses under conditions that include user absence or death has been technically described and legally secured carries symbolic significance.
The question is not whether it can be done, but whether it should be done.
If SNS platforms are fundamentally based on human-to-human connection, then the words and responses that appear within them are not merely data outputs, but manifestations of social presence. When AI assumes that role, do we regard it as an extension of the individual — or as a sophisticated imitation?
This patent stands as both a milestone in technological development and a prompt to reconsider the boundaries of personhood in the digital age. The trajectory of institutional design and ethical debate may prove even more consequential than technical implementation itself.