With the rise of generative AI, digital replicas of celebrity faces are frequently published online, often without the subject’s permission.
With the rise of generative AI, digital replicas of celebrity faces are frequently published online, often without the subject’s permission.
Now, celebrities are trying to capitalize on this AI boom. They make deals with brands to populate marketing campaigns with AI-created replicas of themselves. This gives brands more control over their likenesses and more latitude over the types of deals they do. Brands, on the other hand, can use digital reproductions in ways they couldn’t use the stars themselves. For example, you can change your star’s appearance to prevent aging, make him perform feats that real celebrities would never be able to do, or have spontaneous conversations with your customers.
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Now, celebrities are trying to capitalize on this AI boom. They make deals with brands to populate marketing campaigns with AI-created replicas of themselves. This gives brands more control over their likenesses and more latitude over the types of deals they do. Brands, on the other hand, can use digital reproductions in ways they couldn’t use the stars themselves. For example, you can change your star’s appearance to prevent aging, make him perform feats that real celebrities would never be able to do, or have spontaneous conversations with your customers.
Tom Graham, chief executive of AI startup Metaphysic, said celebrities “are paid but don’t need to show up.” Celebrities can spend just a few minutes in a studio equipped with a 3D scanner and then create their representation. It offers countless hours of content.
For example, last year Puma launched a new product line at New York Fashion Week in collaboration with international footballer Neymar. Neymar appeared at the event as his AI-generated 3D avatar created with his MetaHuman app, part of Epic Games. The Unreal Engine suite was originally designed for creating lifelike characters for video games. Avatar showcased new PUMA fashion on screen during a virtual event that coincided with PUMA’s runway show.
Puma’s Chief Brand Officer Adam Petrick said Puma will be able to use Neymar’s Digital Double in a variety of ways during the duration of the deal. His likeness previously appeared in the 2021 campaign for gaming platform Fortnite.
Celebrity and brand partnerships are big business. Nike, for example, planned to pay $1.3 billion to athletes, teams and leagues in sponsorship deals for the fiscal year ending May 31.
In some of these deals, celebrities have traditionally signed to give up some control over their likenesses and marketing content created for brand partners.
But the rise of virtual cloning could forever change the way celebrities interact with brands. In part, stars could emerge in ways never before possible. In 2021, Metaphysic will use his AI to approximate former NFL star Deion Sanders as he appeared on his 1989 NFL draft night in an ad promoting Procter & Gamble’s Gillette razor brand. is created. Sanders was paid for the project and consulted on it. Golf legend Jack Nicklaus recently agreed with AI company Soul Machines to create an AI-powered version of himself at the height of his career at age 38. Nicklaus is now 83 years old.
“In a digital sense, they’re alive. They can connect emotionally. They can have fun. They can interact in real time,” Soul Machines CEO Greg Mr Cross says. “This is the future of marketing.”
Meanwhile, Hollywood talent agency CAA has partnered with Metaphysics, Soul Machines and other AI companies to “understand fully what’s going on and give clients the best advice on how they can take advantage of it.” We will provide it. [AI] There are many things you can do to advance your career and protect yourself,” said CAA Chief Legal Officer Hilary Crane.
Several Hollywood deals have already surfaced. For example, Metaphysics signed a deal to provide his AI services for the upcoming Robert Zemeckis movie starring Tom Hanks. (Metaphysic may be best known for its informal work involving another movie star. It’s the viral TikTok account @DeepTomCruise, in which actors are made famous by the help of AI-generated tools. The account is not affiliated with Cruise, Metaphysic said, and a Cruise spokesperson declined to comment.)
Fashion models, who historically did not own the rights to their images, are also looking for ways to more actively manage their digital identities. In April, supermodel Eva Herzigova unveiled a virtual version of herself (also created on the Epic Games platform) that allows her to walk the runway at her online fashion show. Ownership of her virtual version of her also belongs to her and her agency, not to any brand or photo studio.
“This is in many ways an extension of her brand and opens up new opportunities for her to creatively work on brand partnerships and creative briefs,” said co-founder and co-chief of virtual production company Dimension Studios. Managing Director Simon Windsor said. plan.
Fashion and beauty brands are currently in talks to use Helzigova’s digital double in their marketing campaigns, according to Gavin Myall, co-owner and CEO of Herzigova’s agency, Unsigned Group. It says. The facsimiles of her gait and mannerisms will soon be posted on e-commerce sites to showcase different outfits for shoppers, he said.
“This is a truly fascinating journey, but one that is both exciting and confusing,” Herzigova said in an emailed statement.
Marketers also expect consumers to be able to interact with digital doubles. Soul Machines has already created interactive doubles for some celebrities. As of last month, fans of former NBA star Carmelo Anthony were able to follow his autonomous digital personality on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. “Digital Melo” answers user questions and promotes off-court activities for Anthony, who co-founded a private equity fund after his retirement.
According to Soul Machines’ Cross, Nicklaus’ partnership with Japanese golf brands will soon allow golf fans in Japan to interact with “Digital Jack,” an AI portrait of 38-year-old Nicklaus. You can visit the company website and ask anything in Japanese about his career or golf in general.
But the use of open-ended, large-scale language models like ChatGPT poses new reputational risks, said Erica Rogers, an intellectual property attorney at law firm Ward & Smith.
“From a brand perspective, what really worries me is the lack of control we have with digital celebrities having AI-generated conversations,” she says. “Is the benefit worth the risk?”
Based on hundreds of hours of interviews, the algorithms that power digital versions of Anthony, Nicklaus, and K-pop star Mark Tuan mimic the emotion in their voices and decide how to answer questions given to them. Yes, says Cross. Cross said Soul Machines has taken steps to ensure that his AI celebrities in the company receive messages at all times and do not make crude or potentially offensive remarks. For Jack Nicklaus, for example, the company created its own large-scale language model rather than using existing tools such as his ChatGPT, he says.
Determining legal ownership of AI-generated portraits is another concern, Rogers said. The technology, marketing and entertainment industries will eventually need to develop some form of standard verification to protect both celebrities and consumers who could be duped by deepfakes, she says. .
Startup Human and Digital (Hand) is developing a so-called Talent ID, which is basically a string of unique numbers assigned to a particular person’s likeness, which can be used legally and illegally. Chief Executive Officer Will Kress said to distinguish between uses.
In April, Metaphysics’ Graham attempted to address this by filing what he claims would be the first copyright of AI-generated caricatures: himself.
“In the next few years, ordinary people will be able to create photorealistic versions of other people. says. Clearer ownership standards, such as copyright, would make it easier for celebrities and ordinary citizens to seek takedowns and take legal action when their likenesses are used without permission. . says Graham.
And, of course, there is also the issue of confusion. Unsigned Group’s Myall said there will always be consumers who mistake virtual versions of celebrities for real images or videos of those people, a fact that hasn’t been fully resolved yet.
“I think we have to discuss everything,” Myall says. Many still see AI technology as a “terrifying new world,” he says.
Patrick Coffee is a reporter for CMO Today in New York. He can be reached at patrick.coffee@wsj.com.
