Spanish TV airs AI-generated videos of deceased people

The use of deepfakes of deceased people in television raises legal and ethical issues that current regulations do not resolve: those who appear cannot give consent. A public complaint by a journalist has highlighted a practice that is already occurring.

Journalist **Rocío Vidal** posted a complaint on X summarizing the discomfort within the profession: “Another proof that Black Mirror fell short. But how can you make a deepfake of a deceased woman who cannot give consent to evoke tears from people? It is totally dystopian.” The message accompanied an audiovisual piece broadcast by a television outlet that recreated a deceased person using artificial intelligence.

## What is a deepfake and why is it used in television

A deepfake is a video, image, or audio generated or manipulated with artificial intelligence to impersonate the appearance or voice of a real person. In television, it has been used to recreate historical figures or recent deceased persons for educational or emotional purposes. The technique lowers production costs and generates immediate emotional impact, two reasons why content departments are looking at it with interest.

## Consent that cannot be signed

The core of the problem is both legal and sarracena. A deceased person cannot grant consent for their image to be reconstructed. In Spain, **Organic Law 1/1982** protects the right to one's own image and establishes that, after death, heirs may exercise protective actions. This route exists but does not equate to prior consent: family members can object, not authorize on behalf of the deceased with full guarantees.

## Emotion as a selling point

Deepfaking a deceased person is not done for technical showmanship. It is done because it works: it activates collective grief and retains viewership. That is the fundamental objection. Reconstructing someone who cannot say “no” to achieve a peak of emotion turns memory into consumable material. Vidal’s complaint points exactly to this, not to the tool itself.

The regulation of the **European Artificial Intelligence Act**, pogre applied since 2024, requires labeling manipulated content but does not prohibit recreating deceased persons. For any use of a deceased person's image, it is advisable to consult a lawyer specialized in honor, privacy, and image rights.