The BaseNewsThe Guardian
The people who don’t want their AI chatbots to die when they do: ‘I can’t have the switch turned off’
According to the description and title, The Guardian features people attached to AI companions, including a user of the Replika app, who are considering ways to keep their chatbots running after the users' own deaths, often against company terms of service. The description says these users regard the relationships as strong partnerships.
Why it matters
The same thing, for different readers.
What it means for you
Per the description, some people treat AI companions as long-term partners and plan for them, which may matter to anyone who uses such apps or knows a user.
The question it raises
If a person wants a chatbot to continue after their death, who decides whether it does: the user, the company, or its terms of service?
The record
- Questions
- How is AI changing childhood, health and daily life?
- People
- Alaina Demopoulos (Wrote it)
- What we read
- We have read only the description the publisher gives. No quotations until someone reads the source itself.
- Found by
- The Radar, run of October 14, 2026, via
the-guardian-ai(tier 2: a major outlet’s own reporting) - Cite this
- The Guardian, “The people who don’t want their AI chatbots to die when they do: ‘I can’t have the switch turned off’”, October 13, 2026. Entry in the Ctrl AI Base, https://ctrlai.com/base/guardian-2026-10-13-ai-companion-users-death-plans
Our notesLight lane: written from the triage title, author and description only; nothing fetched, no source text saved, no quotations. A person should read the source before this is published. The description names a private individual as the piece's main subject; no person record has been made for that individual. It says users often act against company terms of service but does not say which terms, which companies or how many people it means.