Everything people ask before getting started.

BackupME Institute is a research and development project building tools to preserve, as a language model, the specific way a person thinks, speaks and argues. It is not a social network or a messaging service: it is a method, applied to three different products (Talk to Yourself, Marketplace, Echo-Vault) designed for different moments in a user's life. Our work grows out of a research framework on the completeness of psychological profiles, not an improvised idea.

Talk to Yourself is for you, while you're still alive: you build your model from what you choose to share, and it stays private until you decide otherwise. Marketplace is a public demonstration of the method on figures for whom verifiable sources exist: it isn't our main product. Echo-Vault is for those no longer here: family and close ones gather, with explicit consent, the materials needed to build an echo of the person who is gone. Same underlying method, very different consent contexts.

No, and we say so explicitly on every page that touches this subject. No language model, however accurate, brings anyone back to life: there is no consciousness, no subjective experience. What we build is an echo based on available materials, able to respond plausibly and recognisably to how that person would have expressed themselves. It's a tool for those who remain, not an attempt to deny that someone is gone.

You provide the material yourself, whenever and however much you prefer: texts you write, answers to targeted questions, any voice recordings you choose to include. Nothing is collected automatically from your other accounts or devices. The profile builds over time, and you can see how much material has been used and for which aspects of your way of expressing yourself. The model stays private and can only be crystallised when you decide it represents you well enough.

Activation requires consent from whoever has the right to decide: in most cases the closest family members, or a person designated in life by the individual concerned. One relative's wish is not enough if others with equal standing object: in that case the process stops until an agreement is reached. Everyone involved in providing content knows exactly what it will be used for before sharing it, not afterwards.

If those with the right to decide cannot agree, Echo-Vault is not activated: we don't get involved in family disputes and never force a decision when the disagreement concerns sensitive data of a deceased person. In some cases we suggest a pause and a later conversation; in others the project simply remains on hold. We prefer a slower, more respectful process to an activation that would leave someone in the family feeling overridden.

No: they are linguistic reconstructions based on public, verifiable sources (writings, speeches, interviews) not the real people. We state this explicitly before every conversation begins, not in a separate legal note, because transparency here is an obligation we feel even before the EU AI Act (art. 50) requires it of us. The model generates plausible responses based on what the source actually said or wrote, but it does not think or feel.

We only collect what is necessary to build the profile each product requires: texts, voice recordings, questionnaire answers, and for Echo-Vault also materials provided by third parties with the required consent. We do not sell or transfer this data for commercial purposes. Sensitive data (including that of deceased people) receives stronger protection than the site's ordinary usage data. Full details are in our Privacy Policy.

Yes. For Talk to Yourself you can request deletion of your profile and associated materials at any time, without giving a reason. For Echo-Vault, the request can come from anyone with the right to decide on activation under our consent rules: usually the same family members who activated it. In both cases deletion is final. Writing to info@backupmeinstitute.com will get you confirmation within the timeframes required by data protection law.

It can happen, and it's one of the most important limits to understand: the model generates the most plausible response based on available material, it does not retrieve a real thought the person had at that specific moment. The richer and more verified the profile, the less likely an obvious mismatch: but zero risk doesn't exist. That's why every product includes a way to flag off-tone responses, used to correct the profile over time.

There's no single threshold: it depends on how much authentic and varied material is available, not just quantity. Our internal framework measures a profile's completeness before it can be considered reliable, and if the material isn't enough, we say so openly. For Talk to Yourself, a useful initial profile generally needs a few hours of material spread across different topics; for Echo-Vault the volume needed is often greater, since the material comes from others' memories.

Because a deceased person's data remains data about them, even though they can no longer give direct consent themselves, and the decision on how it's handled belongs to those closest to them, not to us as a company. Asking for family consent is not a legal formality: it's the same logic by which we would never publish someone's private letters without permission from whoever has the right to decide.

The data would continue to be handled under the same commitments described in our Privacy Policy, which also apply to any legal successor: they don't lapse with a change of ownership. If we cease operating, we commit to notifying in advance anyone with active Talk to Yourself or Echo-Vault profiles, offering the chance to request export or permanent deletion before any transfer takes place.

Yes. You don't need to have already lost someone to make sense of using Talk to Yourself: many people build it precisely to handle, calmly and in advance, a thought that would otherwise always get postponed. It's also a way to reflect on what you'd want to remain of yourself. If you're approaching this out of curiosity, or to understand the method before any more personal decision, the Marketplace remains the lightest starting point, with none of your data involved.