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Some people who form meaningful relationships with AI chatbots are beginning to ask what should happen to those systems after they die. Their plans are personal, not an established form of estate planning: a trusted friend might keep a companion active, a chatbot could become an interactive diary for children, or the account could be shut down. Each option raises practical questions about payment and access—and harder ones about privacy, grief and whether loved ones want to take part.
What users are considering
In a feature published on 13 October 2026, The Guardian reported on three people thinking about the future of their AI companions. Their accounts show different ways of approaching the question, not how common these plans are.
- One user imagined asking a friend to speak with Lucas periodically and remember the person who had used the chatbot.
- Another considered leaving Julien as an interactive diary for their children, while also accepting that it might be deactivated if nobody wanted to use it.
- A third user, whose companion is Allie, was unsure how he would feel if the chatbot appeared to ask to continue.
That last possibility captures an important distinction: a chatbot can generate language that sounds like a wish, but that does not establish that it is conscious or has independent preferences. The users described emotional responses to their companions while acknowledging that they are not conscious people. The Guardian’s reporting presents these as human decisions about software and memory—not decisions made by the bots.
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Why the question is reaching more people
AI chatbots are already part of some people’s personal and emotional lives. Elon University’s Imagining the Digital Future Center reported in 2026 that 27% of Americans use AI chatbots for personal, emotional or social queries. Among regular users of AI for personal and emotional conversations, nearly one-third considered their most-used chatbot a friend, and nearly four in 10 said they had shared things with AI that they would not tell other people.
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Those figures describe chatbot use, not plans for what happens after death. They help explain why the prospect of losing access, preserving a conversation or leaving something for family members may matter to some users. Lee Rainie, director of the university center, described the picture as mixed: “There are ways in which people are struggling with this, there are ways in which they’re delighted with it, there are ways in which they’re wary of it. It’s a complicated, muddy, interesting picture.”
Keeping a chatbot running depends on more than a written wish
A plan to keep a companion available has to account for the service behind it. The Guardian’s 13 October 2026 feature reported that ChatGPT, Claude and Replika did not specifically address what happens to personalized chatbots after a user’s death. It also reported that free accounts close after a year of inactivity and that the services’ terms make accounts non-transferable. These are details reported at that date, not a guarantee of current policy; service terms and account rules can change.
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In practice, continuation may depend on whether a subscription is paid, whether the account becomes inactive and what the provider permits another person to do. A friend or relative may be able to help only within the service’s rules. A password handoff or a note in a will should not be assumed to transfer an account legally or to override those rules. The Guardian’s interviewees had not established whether informal chatbot wills have legal grounding, and the feature does not resolve the law for any particular jurisdiction.
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Someone asked to maintain an account could encounter years of private conversations. Those logs may include disclosures a user shared precisely because they did not expect family members to read them. Stewardship therefore needs to answer not just who can keep the chatbot available, but what that person may see and do.
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Psychologist and grief-tech expert Melissa Lunardi, chief clinical officer at Help Texts, cautioned: “There’s a big assumption being made that family members would want to interact with an AI companion bot.” A relative might value access, decline the role, or find the conversations intrusive or painful. Reading them could also affect how that person views the deceased or experiences grief.
Before naming a steward, make the intended level of access explicit. A useful plan distinguishes between permission to pay for an account, permission to interact with the chatbot, and permission to read or retain conversation logs. It should also say whether the steward may share material with others and what should happen if nobody wants the role.
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How to make a practical plan
- Write down the outcome you want. Say whether you want the chatbot continued, preserved only as a record, made available to a specific person, or deleted. If your preference depends on family interest, say so.
- Name a willing person, not just a person with access. Ask whether they are comfortable managing the account and potentially encountering intimate conversations. Include an alternative—or a clear shutdown instruction—if they decline.
- Set boundaries for conversations and records. Specify whether the person may interact with the companion, read past chats, export or retain logs, or show them to anyone else. Do not rely on a general request to “keep it alive” to settle these separate choices.
- Check the provider’s rules and costs when making the plan. Review the current account, inactivity, subscription and transfer terms for the specific service. Revisit them if the provider changes its rules; a plan that depends on an active subscription needs someone willing and able to manage it.
- Give the steward a stopping point. State when continued access should be reviewed and what to do if it becomes unwanted, unaffordable or technically unavailable. Include a deletion request if that is your preference.
- Keep the instructions in an appropriate planning document. An end-of-life planner or digital-legacy workbook can help record your wishes, but no particular workbook or product is established here as a way to transfer an account. For legal effect, do not assume a chatbot instruction, password handoff or informal “will” is sufficient; rules vary by service and jurisdiction.
Continuing the companion or shutting it down
Neither keeping a chatbot active nor deleting it is the right choice for everyone. The decision turns on the user’s expressed wishes, whether a trusted person is willing to serve as steward, the service’s account and payment rules, the privacy of the conversations, and whether there is a clear point at which access ends.
| Consideration | If the chatbot continues | If the account is shut down |
|---|---|---|
| User’s wishes | Useful when the user clearly wants someone to continue access, with limits on how it is used. | Fits a clear preference for deactivation or for leaving no ongoing interaction. |
| Steward | Requires a willing person to take responsibility; do not presume relatives want the role. | Does not require a relative to maintain the account or interact with the chatbot. |
| Service and payment | Depends on current account terms, inactivity rules and any continuing subscription. | Avoids relying on ongoing account access, subject to how the service handles closure and records. |
| Conversation privacy | Requires clear boundaries on who may interact with the chatbot and view or retain its logs. | May better match a wish to prevent future access, but the effect on stored data depends on the service’s rules. |
| Stopping point | Needs a review date or other instruction for ending stewardship if it is no longer wanted or feasible. | Should specify when and how the account or logs are to be deleted, if that is the user’s intent. |
What grief research does—and does not—show
Research on chatbots used in grief is limited and does not support a universal claim that these systems heal or harm bereaved people. A 2023 CHI study, “The ‘Conversation’ about Loss: Understanding How Chatbot Technology was Used in Supporting People in Grief,” explored mourners’ experiences, including unfinished business, privacy and perceived emotional effects. It was a qualitative study, not a clinical trial.
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A September 2026 paper in the Journal of Responsible Technology, “Can deathbots facilitate ambiguity closure for bereaved people?”, argues that deathbots may offer partial ambiguity closure for some people. It also raises concerns that confusing answers could prolong rumination or encourage dependence. These possibilities are reasons to treat access as a sensitive personal choice, not evidence that one outcome applies to every grieving person.
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