Persona AI of deceased experts requires responsible control and updates
His Name, Their Judgment: Expert Authority in Posthumous Persona AI
Computers and Society
Summary
Sometimes people use AI versions of experts who have passed away to get advice on decisions the experts never faced. The authors studied online discussions about an AI persona of a Chinese advisor, Zhang Xuefeng, and found people expect the AI to be regularly updated and controlled by living people to keep its advice trustworthy. They also noticed that users want to judge or question the AI's suggestions rather than blindly follow them. Keeping the AI’s recommendations current connects to respecting the deceased’s identity and requires active effort from those managing the persona.
What this means in practice
- •For ai product managers: Design and maintain persona AI of deceased experts with mechanisms for ongoing updates and transparent user control to preserve trust and ethical use.$Commercial implications: Enables commercial products delivering trusted expert AI personas with ongoing management by living operators to maintain credibility and legal compliance.
- •For online community moderators: Manage discussions around persona AI by encouraging transparent critique and updates of the AI’s advice to prevent blind reliance.
Tested on one dataset.
Authors
Hanjing Shi, Dominic DiFranzo
Abstract
Persona AI can make deceased experts available for decisions they never encountered. Users may seek these personas precisely because they lack the knowledge needed to judge their advice. We thematically analyze 115 focal RedNote/Xiaohongshu posts and a nested comment sample concerning unofficial personas of Chinese education advisor Zhang Xuefeng. An installation offer promised expert guidance, while a family's reported use required current records and contextual judgment. Other posts positioned the persona as a questioning aid rather than an expert replacement. Commenters connected continued expertise to updating, permission, and the ability to refuse further work. These findings distinguish access to an expert identity from access to professional help. Keeping the persona current puts living actors in control of what the deceased appears to recommend. Operators therefore need to undertake the support promised by the persona while making their continued use of the person's identity open to challenge.