Let’s start with a basic understanding that monetization of platforms is a given in the digital world. With ChatGPT’s rollout of paid ads in the past two weeks, it’s inevitable that change is coming for better or worse.
It’s a business decision. I may not love the idea — especially if targeting is fueled by deeply personal prompts — but revenue from consumer use is the model virtually every major tech platform has adopted since the inception of Google AdWords in the 90’s.
Will the change-makers be transparent? They better be. Will advertising be labeled and evident to the user? This is a must. And will there be opt-ins available to users? This too is non-negotiable. Privacy has to be of the upmost importance.
But there’s a difference between monetizing a product and monetizing a person. And that’s where this gets dangerous.
The Patent That Should Make You Pause
If you haven’t heard, Meta was recently granted a patent for technology that could allow AI to keep posting on your behalf after you die. This isn’t memorialization and it’s not archiving your history. This is posting, liking, messaging, and fully simulating YOU. A digital ghost that haunts indefinitely.
From a platform perspective, it preserves engagement. A deceased user is lost activity. An AI proxy fixes that.
Ethical? Hell no. I draw the line here. Because once your identity becomes something that can be replicated and extended for engagement metrics, you’re no longer just a user. You’re renewable inventory and an unlimited source of revenue for Meta.
Meanwhile, the Guardrails Feel Optional
At the same time, companies like OpenAI are expanding monetization strategies while navigating internal safety disputes and mounting lawsuits from publishers, artists, and authors alike.
These systems are trained on everything from medical fears to relationship struggles and even spiritual questions. It’s intimate, confessional and in a way therapeutic. Layer advertising on top of that without radical transparency and you don’t have innovation. You have exploitation.
This Isn’t Anti-AI
Let’s be clear. Narrow, specialized AI can be extraordinary. In healthcare, instant diagnostic modeling and predictive analytics are already reducing suffering and accelerating treatment. I’m walking proof having recently experience a traumatic back injury. I’m willing to wager these types of applications saved me months of recovery and pain.
That’s AI at its best — enhancing expertise, not impersonating humanity.
The problem isn’t intelligence augmentation, but rather identity commoditization.
Where the Line Should Be
Advertising in AI tools is a debate about monetization. Simulating a human being after death to preserve engagement is a debate about dignity.
If platforms can replicate your tone, extend your presence, and monetize your likeness indefinitely, the question isn’t whether it’s technically impressive. The question is: Who owns you when you’re gone?
Once your digital ghost is generating impressions, clicks, and ad signals, you’re not participating in the system anymore. You’re powering it. And that’s a line I believe we should firmly be unwilling to cross.