Having formerly spent decades working in Information Technology, I regularly read articles regarding ongoing efforts to protect assets – individual, digital or tangible. For example, recently a colleague posted an article regarding a legal case involving the use of AI to emulate the voice of Tupac Shakur and AI in music.. Another former colleague posted an article on her company’s efforts on the EU Digital Product Passport (a first-of-its-kind regulatory framework) which will, in coming years, attach identifiers on materials used in an item, its manufacturing process and more, to enable consumers to make informed purchasing decisions.
What do these two seemingly disparate topics have in common? Digital Identification: whether of a person, a person’s attribute, a thing, a thing’s attribute or a unique characteristic.
How does this matter for the future of HNWIs and their legacies? Token types and wallets (whether for use with crypto or credit card) are already in use for blockchain art and QR codes for other types of collections. But what about other digital identification and its worth to an individual or estate? How do we protect the estates and identities of HNWIs in a world of “deep fakes” and “deadbots”? The development of a digital afterlife industry based on generative AI is certainly blurring the lines and legal protection of digital post-mortem assets. For appraisers, this means clearly understanding the digital assets of their Client that require appraisal, how their Client is identified in this realm and their Client’s desired post-mortem digital designations as provided to their attorney in an estate situation. The above barely scratches the surface of this shifting landscape. For appraisers, keeping abreast of designated post-mortem digital assets is crucial. For a quick overview of what is considered for a digital estate in the U.S. alone, take a look at this “beginner’s primer” from The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel:
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