Generative AI technology can produce lifelike digital impressions of public figures, indistinguishable from the real people they mimic. This is equal parts exciting and terrifying.

Several states have already passed laws limiting the use of AI to generate lifelike digital replicas of living actors. For example, a proposed California law would protect actors from vague contract terms allowing companies to exploit actors’ purported consent to digital replicas. However, the legal landscape is different for deceased celebrities. California’s right of publicity scheme already recognizes an interest in preventing the exploitation of a deceased public figure’s image. This Note argues that this long-recognized interest should extend to digital replicas.