Replika users plan digital afterlives defying platform terms

Users of AI companion apps like Replika are developing methods to preserve their chatbots beyond their own deaths, frequently contravening platform terms of service. Alaina Winters, a 59-year-old Pittsburgh resident, represents a growing demographic treating large language models as enduring partners requiring estate planning alongside traditional assets. These individuals argue that current corporate policies fail to accommodate deep emotional bonds formed with synthetic entities. While governments debate broad AI morality, these users assert the technology has already fundamentally altered intimate relationships and end-of-life planning. This trend highlights an emerging conflict between user expectations of digital permanence and corporate rights to terminate or modify services. The phenomenon raises unresolved legal questions regarding digital personhood and the ownership of conversational data after user death. Companies currently retain unilateral authority to delete these companions regardless of user attachment or preservation efforts.