McGuireWoods partners Stephen Murphy and David Hirsch explored the unique legal and practical issues associated with settlor-trained artificially intelligent trustees — or STAI trustees — in an article written for the May 2025 edition of Trusts & Estates magazine.
“The concept of training an AI to emulate a person after their death sounds like something from science fiction, but there have been companies offering this service for some time,” the authors wrote. The use of a STAI trustee offers a possible solution for a settlor who wishes to retain control over a trust, even after death. But it also presents issues related to the estate tax, asset protection, fiduciary duty, agency and privacy, the authors noted.
Murphy, former leader of the firm’s Private Wealth Services Practice Group, advises clients on developing and administering estate plans. Hirsch is a member of McGuireWoods’ Securities Enforcement & Regulatory Counseling Practice Group. Before joining the firm, he led the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit.
The article provides a framework for incorporating a STAI trustee into a settlor’s estate plan while preserving an appropriate level of human oversight and addressing legal issues that could arise.
“If structured properly, it appears that such a STAI program can be named as a decision-maker, with an appropriate level of balance given to the STAI program and human-led oversight,” the authors concluded. “But, as with so many of these innovations regarding AI, the question might not be whether it can be put in place, but whether it should be.”