Digital Doubles
Research/working list

Research

Nothing in the collection is invented: the test is staged, the documents it draws on are not. They sort into five questions. The test finds which one is yours.

Whether something of you can go on

Griefbots, memorial avatars and interactive archives of the dead — and the research on what they do to the people left talking to them.

studyGriefbots, deadbots, postmortem avatarsHollanek & Nowaczyk-Basińska · Philosophy & Technology · 2024
studyThe political economy of death in the age of informationÖhman & Floridi · Minds and Machines · 2017
serviceStoryFilerecorded, conversational video of a person, answered after death
serviceHereAfter AIa voice archive of a life, to be questioned by family

Not whether it exists, but who decides

Likeness as something you can own, license and withdraw: new laws on digital replicas, the right of publicity, and proposals for personality rights.

lawDenmark · likeness in the Copyright Actproposed amendment giving people rights over their own body, face and voice · 2025
lawTennessee · ELVIS Actvoice added to the protected right of publicity · 2024
billUnited States · NO FAKES Acta federal right over digital replicas of voice and likeness · in Congress
proposalModel Personality RightsDanaher & Nyholm · a template for likeness rights

Whether it will be you

Disclosure and provenance: the rules that say a copy must say it is a copy, and the standards that try to prove where an image or a voice came from.

lawEU AI Act · Article 50transparency duties for AI that talks to people or makes synthetic media
standardC2PAan open standard for recording where media came from and how it was changed
standardContent Credentialsthe visible label built on C2PA

Who does the work, and who is paid

Performers, voice actors and artists whose likeness keeps working without them — the agreements, the cases, and the artists who licensed their own double first.

agreementSAG-AFTRA · digital replica termsconsent and pay for digital replicas in performers' contracts
workHolly Herndon · Holly+an artist's voice model, released for others to use, on her terms
caseLehrman & Sage v. Lovovoice actors against a voice-cloning company · New York · 2024

Whether it is possible not to be copied

Erasure, opting out, and tools that make a likeness harder to take — and the writing on why deletion so often fails.

lawGDPR · Article 17the right to erasure, and its exceptions
serviceIncogniremoval requests sent to data brokers on your behalf
toolGlaze & NightshadeUniversity of Chicago · cloaking images against training
archiveThe AI Resist Lista directory of refusals, campaigns and alternatives · 2026

This list is still being assembled. Each area will gain cases and works as the Museum grows.

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