professor
zachary catanzaro
I am an Assistant Professor of Law at Widener University Delaware Law School. My scholarship examines how emerging technologies transform foundational legal concepts including property, sovereignty, and interpretation. Recent projects include articles on posthumous algorithmic control, a TEDx talk on training AI to outlive us, and testimony before the U.S. Copyright Office on NFTs and intellectual property. Contact me to discuss speaking engagements or consultation opportunities.
recent projects
My current research centers on developing theoretical frameworks for Generative Simulation exploring how probabilistic models and AI decision-making systems interact with legal reasoning. This work builds on my forthcoming Yale Journal of Law & Technology article Sovereignty in the Technological Singularity, which examines how traditional concepts of legal authority and their relationship to death must evolve in response to advanced artificial intelligence systems. Last year, I delivered a TEDx talk titled Ghosts in the Machine: Training AI to Outlive Us, addressing the implications of AI systems that persist beyond their creators' lifespans. Additionally, I contributed a chapter on Trademark Use in Web3, NFTs, and the Metaverse to an upcoming ABA publication on digital content law, analyzing how intellectual property frameworks apply to emerging virtual environments and blockchain-based assets.
The Dead Law Theory: The Perils of Simulated Interpretation, (forthcoming Florida Law Review 2027)
The Law of Digital Content, (ABA Publications 2025)
Sovereignty in the Singularity
(forthcoming Yale J. L. & Tech. 2026)
Ghosts in the Machine: Training AI to Outlive Us, Tedx Talk
Algorithmic Dead Hands: What is Dead May Never Die, 35 Fordham Intell. Prop. Media & Ent. L.J. 83 (2024)
Beyond Incentives: Copyright in the Age of Algorithmic Production, 13 NYU J. of Intellectual Property & Ent. L. 1 (2024)
