From Paris Hilton to Snoop Dogg: Celebrities who gave their faces to AI characters you can chat with | famous | S Fashion

Kendall Jenner is identified in the Instagram profile photo, but that’s not her account, it’s Billie’s. In the description it reads “Fly local or die” (in English), something like “the local person you trust.” It’s your Instagram profile @yoursisbillie, the AI ​​character created by Meta — the parent company of Instagram, formerly known as Facebook — in the image of supermodel Kendall Jenner. Billie is one of 28 characters developed by a Silicon Valley company with this technology (And one of 15 available to the American people). They’re all made of human representations of celebrities, Influencers And content creators. For example but not limited to: Charli D’Amelio as CocoA “vibrant girl” who loves dancing; Paris Hilton is Amberthe investigator; Snoop Dogg is the Dungeon Master Which invites you to live “your next adventure”; Tom Brady is a pro, a talk show host obsessed with sports; And Naomi Osaka as Tamikaa fan of Anime.

Their profiles attract attention because they combine AI-generated photos, videos, and portraits of public figures captured and recorded in a studio. The AI-captured images all have a watermark in the lower left area of ​​the image that says “AI-created,” which are representations that align with the personalities of each of the celebrities represented. Billie (played by Kendall Jenner) shows photos of several AI-reimagined restaurants, a photo shoot, a building and a ceramics workshop with the somewhat vague description of “this is my kind of happy afternoon.” We do not see her making pottery or lifting storiesand the chat where you can talk to her is down for many users.

For those who aren’t, it’s a chat where you can ask the characters any question (but you can’t call them by their celebrity name because they get angry, explains digital culture analyst) Joel Terbak in his video The media is changing). Leah Haberman, V for him the news ICYMI, offers an interesting diatribe regarding the brands and campaigns in which celebrities portraying these characters might be employed. When Billie (Kendall Jenner) is asked about shoes, she recommends Converse or Vans, not Gucci, the brand that starred in its latest advertising campaign.

Many of the comments on the posts have a similar tone. There are doubts and criticism towards the images generated in this way and towards Kendall Jenner. Angel Evans, an anonymous user, says: “I can’t believe he sold the rights to his image and identity to gain fame and notoriety… Dark times lie ahead.” according to the information Meta paid approximately five million euros to the most influential figures who participated in the experiment. Jenner’s is the profile with the most popularity and conversation Connected Created (number of followers is close to 200,000), but the rest of the AI ​​managed by Meta (as the profile indicates) does not reach 15,000 followers.

To understand why and why now, it is necessary to review MetaConnect 2023 Conference At the end of September, Mark Zuckerberg – its founder and CEO – explained that the Meta team would focus in the coming years on integrating artificial intelligence into the product, with a strong focus on generating “genuine connections with our loved ones.” You said at the conference that each of these characters are resources you turn to when, for example, you want to have a fun and different plan in New York and don’t know where or how. Billy will be there to help you. He also explained the decision to employ cultural icons and influencers for the characters made with this technique, which stems from the need to talk to them “to be like talking to people you know.” Both statements respond to a social moment in which there are two concepts to consider to understand why this happens: parasocial relations and the unit economy.

Parasocial relations and the unit economy

With Taylor Swift’s breakup and Rosalía and Rao’s breakup, parasocial relationships (feeling close to someone by following them on social media) have become the norm. We follow the lives of celebrities closely because they share it on networks, and we feel that they are friends like our closest circle of friends or family. Marita Alonso referred to Amy Adam’s study on Parasitic behaviors She concluded that such strong relationships with celebrities can impoverish our social relationships.

Meta and AI characters build on that thesis and also on market analysis and new emerging economies, including the unit economy. If loneliness is an epidemic, it has also become a business. Analyzed by investor Hugo Amselem On your website The ways in which technology seeks to leverage this social problem to find solutions that help us belong. The areas in which more than 160 companies are developing technology products are 6: Religion, Family, Neighborhood/Neighborhood, Friendships, Couples, and Company.

Mark Zuckerberg ended his presentation on artificial intelligence with a screen that read, “Innovate responsibly,” while explaining that everyone will be able to create their own artificial intelligence starting next year. in Ha (2013), Theodore (played by Joaquin Phoenix) tells the AI ​​he’s falling in love with, Samantha, that she’s kind of weird because she looks like a person but is just a voice on a computer. Samantha, in one of the film’s most cartoonish scenes, tells Theodore that she “can understand how the limited perspective of a non-artificial mind could look at him that way.” It ends with the blunt statement, “You’ll get used to it.” And knowing whether we will do so is only a matter of time.