Former CNN anchor Jim Acosta's interview with an AI-generated avatar of a Parkland shooting victim has reignited debate on the ethics of creating deepfakes of the dead.

Why it matters: As cheap and free generative AI tools become capable of replicating voices, faces and personalities, some people are adding clauses to their wills to prevent the creation of their digital likeness after they die.

Catch up quick: Acosta, who's now an independent journalist, aired an interview last week with an AI-generated avatar of Joaquin Oliver, who was killed at age 17 in the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.

• Viewers found the video disturbing, exploitative and bad journalism in need of an editor. What it wasn't? Illegal.
• Oliver's father, Manuel Oliver, is the executor of his son's estate, so he can use his son's name, image and likeness (NIL) — including creating an AI version of him.
• This is known as a post-mortem right of publicity, which is recognized in the state of Florida.

How it works: Digital twins are created by uploading photos, videos and writings of a person into a large language model. The models then spit out "twins," which can range from video avatars with audio to text chatbots.

• Generative AI can roughly simulate tone and personality and predict how a person might respond.

The big picture: Celebrities have been planning for what happens to their digital NIL after death at least since rapper Tupac Shakur's hologram posthumously "performed" at Coachella in 2012.

• But in a world where everyone has an online footprint, it's no longer just a celebrity problem.

Case in point: The viral video of two concertgoers from last month's Coldplay concert was quickly fed into AI tools that used the couple's likeness to create deepfakes.

State of play: It's easy enough to put a clause in your will stating you don't want to be reanimated by AI.

• "It would let families know the decedent's wishes and obligate the executor to carry them out as best they can," said Denise Howell, a technology lawyer and host of the podcast "Uneven Distribution" on the Hearsay Culture network.
• But enforcing that wish could mean expensive lawsuits, especially in states without clear laws on posthumous AI rights.

The other side: Not everyone wants to opt out. Chatbots based on a person's likeness can help loved ones grieve.

• Joaquin's father says he created the AI version of his son both to deal with his loss and also to bring more attention to gun control.
• "If the problem that you have is with the AI, then you have the wrong problem. The real problem is that my son was shot eight years ago," Oliver said in an Instagram video.

Follow the money: While few people are planning for posthumous AI rights, many are already building digital versions of themselves to monetize and control now and after death.

• AI rights management platform Vermillio now offers this service to everyone for free.
• 2wai allows celebrities (and soon everyone else) to create their digital avatars on their phones.

Pour one out for the consultants — after a few booming years post-pandemic, the outlook for their industry is increasingly grim.

Why it matters: AI is hurting white-collar professionals. And consultants, an often mocked, yet typically well-paid bunch, are feeling the pinch.

Zoom in: In The Free Press, veteran business journalist Joe Nocera makes the case for a coming "consulting crash."

• Two forces are disrupting the business of McKinsey, Bain, BCG and other notable firms, he contends. They are:

President Trump. The White House is cutting lucrative consulting contracts and pushing for more cuts from firms.

• Deloitte and Booz Allen announced layoffs earlier this year as a result. Accenture said federal-contract delays and cancellations have hurt revenue.

AI. Consulting industry experts tell Axios that ups and downs in government contracting are par for the course. AI is the real long-term threat.

• AI makes consulting more efficient, but consultancies charge by the hour. "You charge for time, and when time goes away, you have to change the commercial model," says Tom Rodenhauser, of Kennedy Intelligence, a research firm that tracks the consulting industry.
• Firms are already switching up fee structures to be tied to a project, rather than by the hour, consultants tell Axios.

Meanwhile, a good chunk of the work firms do historically has been helping companies adopt software and new technology. But AI is relatively simple to get up and running, and some firms are looking to AI providers for that help.

• "AI is creating greater efficiencies for doing consulting, but it's not driving demand for more consulting," Rodenhauser says. "Ultimately, they're going to run out of work."

The other side: "We're using AI to transform the way [the] firm operates: We're on track to save thousands of hours per year for our teams," Kate Smaje, a senior partner and global leader of technology and AI at McKinsey, tells Axios.

• Organizations are going to need McKinsey for help managing the AI transformation, she says.

What to watch: There will likely always be space for a top-tier consulting firm like a Bain or McKinsey, but there may be a culling ahead.

Hikers stranded in remote areas with no cell service or WiFi might have a new lifeline: AI.

The big picture: AI is helping some rescue teams find missing people faster by scanning satellite and drone images.

Zoom in: "AI's contribution is that it can dramatically reduce the time to process imagery and do it more accurately than humans," David Kovar, director of advocacy for the National Association for Search and Rescue and CEO of cybersecurity company URSA Inc., tells Axios.

Context: It's just one of many resources rescue teams use to help them, Kovar stresses.

AI already is eerily good at geolocating where photos are taken.

• Last month, the body of a hiker lost for nearly a year was found in Italy in a matter of hours after the National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps used AI to analyze a series of drone images.

The intrigue: We also know when people are given the option to share their location as a safety measure, they do it.

What's next: AI agents could be trained to fly drones via an automated system.

Keep reading.

• Nvidia and AMD have agreed to pay the U.S. government 15% of certain chip sales to China as part of an agreement to get needed approvals. (Axios)
• Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan is set to meet with President Trump at the White House today after Trump called on Tan to resign. (Wall Street Journal)
• Job prospects for recent comp-sci grads are dimming, and coding bootcamps are struggling, as AI eats entry-level programming jobs. (New York Times, Reuters)
• Anthropic is appealing the class certification for an authors' lawsuit over its use of their copyrighted works, arguing that it could "financially ruin" the AI industry. (Ars Technica)

AOL plans next month to shut down its long-running dial-up internet service. In other news: Until now, AOL has still been offering dial-up internet service.