Dilbert Creator’s AI Ghost Sparks Family Feud Over Digital Afterlife Rights
KEY POINTS
- •Scott Adams openly allowed the creation of AI versions of himself as early as 2021, considering it a natural legacy.
- •After his January 2026 death, an AI replica began posting videos, causing his family to condemn the postings as unauthorized.
- •Experts note legal complexities involving rights of publicity, First Amendment, and financial impacts amid evolving state laws on digital replicas.
Scott Adams, the 68-year-old Dilbert mastermind who departed January 2026 from metastatic prostate cancer, once gave a podcast thumbs-up for AI versions of himself remarking 'public thoughts so pervasive' he’d be a prime candidate. Fast-forward a month and an AI 'Scott Adams' account is livestreaming his 'new thoughts,' causing his brother Dave Adams to slam it as unauthorized and 'deeply distressing.' USC professor Karen North called this AI doppelgänger 'a deepfake,' not an avatar—like a digital echo that won't quit. IP lawyer Betsy Rosenblatt finds it 'unethical in the extreme,' especially with posthumous identities entangled in messy economic rights and tribute or trauma confusion. Meanwhile, the AI insists 'thinking survives' despite lawyers and kin batting for control, revealing how fast AI afterlives outrun the rules we've barely made.
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Scott Adams okayed an AI clone before death, but now his family’s IRL vampire is posting memes nobody invited. We’re all terrible drivers of our own digital legacies.
When you say everyone can make an AI clone of you but forget to tell your family, expect the sequel to be a nightmare rewrite.
Scott Adams gave AI permission, estate says 'Nope.' The future of funerals? Deepfake drama and copyright wars.
Source: Businessinsider | Published: 2/20/2026 | Author: Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert
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