CNIL publishes 10th Innovation and Foresight Report - Our Data After Us, exploring the issues of digital death
17 November 2025
Proposed by the Laboratoire d’innovation numérique de la CNIL (LINC), this new IP Report explores the life of data after death: management, transmission and new offerings such as conversational agents trained on the data of deceased individuals.
The CNIL publishes its 10th Innovation and Foresight Report – "Our Data After Us", a unprecedented exploration of the uses and challenges of post-mortem data. In a world where our digital footprints persist, this new issue examines account management, data transmission and the emergence of conversational agents based on data from deceased individuals.
Based on a Harris Interactive-CNIL survey, a design analysis conducted by the Laboratoire d’innovation numérique de la CNIL (LINC) and four fictional stories produced by the agency Mon Oncle, this Report offers an in-depth exploration of the many dimensions of digital death: memory, legacy, transcendence and materiality.
The IP Report also highlights the legal and ethical issues associated with managing data after death, and makes recommendations to raise public awareness, clarify rights and regulate the use of artificial intelligence on post-mortem data.
