Which celebrities have already created AI clones, and who are digital humans?
The market for digital humans — AI-based avatars that behave like real people — is expected to reach $440 billion by 2031.
Digital humans are already used in customer service, marketing, games, medicine, and even the movie industry.
Another big trend is celebrities creating their digital clones.
✅ Meta recently launched 28 "smart bots," 15 of which are celebrity avatars, in a beta version available only to users in the United States. They include Snoop Dogg, YouTuber MrBeast, Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian's sister Kendall Jenner, Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka, and others.
Each bot has its mission, nickname, and alter ego. For example, Snoop Dogg has the "Dungeon Master" role and is a video game guide. Paris Hilton is Amber, who has a detective role. The chatbot model Kendall Jenner, nicknamed "big sis Billy," has the most followers. She's an AI companion to help with advice, from choosing a restaurant to fashionable sneakers.
According to Mark Zuckerberg, this project should attract a younger audience and help users communicate more actively with each other. The company spent over 6,000 hours training each bot, and the celebrities received between $1 million and $5 million for the right to use their digital clones.
⭐️ "Hey, I'm digital Mark, Mark Tuan's much better looking digital twin," American singer and K-Pop star Mark Tuan (more than 14 million followers on Instagram) greets fans. You can communicate with him, NBA star Carmelo Anthony, legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus, and other famous personas' digital doppelgangers for free in real-time through Soul Machines, an interactive platform from New Zealand.
The AI-generated characters' voices highly resemble their prototypes; they express emotion and constantly learn from the interaction. Digital Mark Tuan flirts with the audience: if you smile to him, he smiles back. Golfer Jack Nicklaus (his twin is a replica of his 38-year-old self at the peak of his career, a request made by the athlete himself, who is currently 83) likes to ask questions, share photos of his career's most exciting episodes, and give tips on playing golf and handling stress. The company plans to feature digital twins of other sports and showbiz stars soon.
🙂 Celebrities are extending their brands by creating digital copies of themselves to do advertising campaigns and online events. For example, model Eva Herzigova and basketball player Luka Doncic introduced impressively realistic digital replicas of themselves using Epic Games' MetaHuman technology.
"In a digital sense, they are alive: They can connect emotionally; they can entertain; they can interact in real-time. This is the future of marketing."
Greg Cross, CEO of Soul Machines
👎 Deepfakes, too, are not a rarity in this industry. Ads of Taylor Swift advertising Le Creuset cookware recently appeared on social media. The singer's voice and image were generated by AI. In the fall, a series of fake videos featuring Tom Hanks spread across the Internet. "Beware!! — he wrote on his Instagram. — There's a video out there promoting some dental plan with an AI version of me. I have nothing to do with it."
@hiaimediaen
