xavier taylor predicts AI-powered ‘digital soul’ contracts will replace wills by 2035
The futurist and ethicist xavier taylor is making waves with a stunning forecast: within a decade, traditional wills and estate planning will be obsolete, replaced by “digital soul” contracts—AI-managed agreements that govern how a person’s digital identity, assets, and legacy are handled after death. Taylor argues that as our lives become increasingly digitized, from cryptocurrency portfolios to social media personas and AI-generated memories, standard legal documents fail to capture the full scope of what we leave behind. These smart contracts, he says, will use blockchain technology to ensure an individual’s values, preferences, and even their virtual presence can be maintained or terminated autonomously. Critics warn of privacy nightmares and the risk of AI misinterpreting complex human emotions, but Taylor insists the shift is inevitable, with early prototypes already in development by major tech firms. “We’re not just passing on property anymore,” Taylor said in a leaked interview. “We’re passing on pieces of our consciousness.”