Afterlives of Information: Death, Memory, and AI in Digital Society

Digital platforms, personal archives, social media profiles, and emerging AI tools are reshaping the afterlives of information: how personal data, digital remains, and memory continue to matter after death. People increasingly face decisions about what should be accessed, preserved, deleted, kept private, remembered, or mediated through AI, yet these practices have not been examined as a coherent human-technology domain. Drawing on survey data from a large sample of 1,735 adults, this study introduces death-related information behavior as a multidimensional construct that captures how people engage with information before and after loss: from managing another person’s materials and planning for one’s own posthumous information, to avoiding emotionally difficult content, using digital spaces for remembrance, and considering AI-supported assistance. Descriptively, participants reported greater engagement with information following another person’s death than planning for their own posthumous information. Exploratory analysis yielded a provisional six-component solution that has not yet been validated in an independent sample. Everyday AI use was associated with greater openness to AI-supported bereavement, digital remembrance, and posthumous information management. By connecting death, memory, personal data, and AI, the study advances research on digital death, bereavement technologies, and emotionally sensitive information systems, while offering a framework for examining how technologies mediate responsibility, avoidance, access, and continuity after loss.