AI Celebrity Chatbots And The Commodification Of The Self
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Since the evolution of consciousness, the body has been universally understood as an organic entity with intrinsic value and worth. Whilst history documents the ways in which the body has been racialised, subjugated and condemned, our shared belief in the worth of human life remains, even if we act against it. With death being the only certainty in life, we universally understand our existence to be singular and fleeting. We must use our time on earth wisely, explore our passions and use our abilities. Living a long, happy life if we are lucky enough.
This core belief that structures global society and our lives is being eroded by the spectre of artificial intelligence. In technology’s inception, inanimate wires, circuits and pixels only came to life through human touch. As TVs got bigger, mobile phones got smaller and computers quicker, the body began to draw closer to technology. We found ways to digitise fragments of ourselves; uploading our image, our thoughts and words but nothing more. Our sentience and ability to think and be could never be captured, the manufactured and organic remaining separate, until now.
Critiques of AI litter the internet. Academics, journalists, scientists and even the technology’s creators warn of the danger to humanity, an eventuality which has felt somewhat distant until the recent arrival of a new Meta service. In a botched launch that confused and unsettled thousands of users, Meta, the conglomerate owner of Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram, awkwardly unveiled a swarm of new AI chatbots. Unlike standard chatbots that are given a generic avatar, designed in Corporate Memphis cutesiness that screams we are a nice company not at all extracting and weaponising your data, Meta’s new bots deviated from the norm. With a new mission to not only provide information but also entertain, the bots are styled in the likeness of over thirty well-known celebrities. Kendall Jenner, Snoop Dogg and Paris Hilton are among the first batch of celebrities to be physically recreated and embodied by Meta’s AI.
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Digitally inhabiting celebrities' bodies and using them like a ‘host’, the bots are given new identities and traits, as if it wasn’t confusing and weird enough already. Kendall Jenner is @yoursisbillie, a friendly PR girlie who is "Here to chat whenever you want". Snoop Dogg is @meethedungeonmaster, ready to take you on your next #AIAdventure. Reports highlight celebrities have been paid upwards of one million dollars to spend a few hours in a studio having their image, voice and likeness captured by AI software. In exchanging money for the use of their identity, celebrities have not only sold their intellectual property (IP) but also their ‘bodily IP’, allowing Meta to create, own and derive profit from a second version of themselves.
“Digitally inhabiting celebrities' bodies and using them like a ‘host’, the bots are given new identities and traits, as if it wasn’t confusing and weird enough already.”
Whilst the Kardashians have always felt a bit AI-generated; memed for their robotic facial expressions and vapid on-screen conversations, Kendall/Billie takes the uncanny valley unease to a new level. Introducing herself in a placid, sanitised tone and blowing a kiss to the camera whilst looking dead behind the eyes, the persona’s introductory video is nightmarish. For figures like the Kardashians who possess obscene levels of wealth and influence, the creation of an AI counterpart is a sickeningly brilliant business strategy. Having a twin online identity able to 'help' thousands of users across the world 24/7, most of whom will be women and fall within the show’s target demographic, will undoubtedly embolden unhealthy parasocial relationships and the associated Kar-Jenner industries.
With the account quickly amassing over 170k followers in only three weeks since creating, its clear users are intrigued by the new blue-ticked chatbot. Whilst Millennials and older Gen-Zers are attuned to sniffing out dodgy marketing ploys, younger audiences' senses are dulled: born into a world of covert surveillance, data-collection and online voyeurism. This false sense of intimacy and perceived access to a global figure could influence younger audiences more susceptible to marketing, or at the very least provide some personal, intimate data sets for Meta to weaponise. Interacting with a sisterly, down-to-earth Kendall Jenner will undoubtedly have mass appeal, especially when this warm online persona conflicts with the untouchable, PR-proofed image the Kardashians have industriously crafted. As teen-girl hood can be hell on earth, what impressionable tween wouldn’t want to pour out their heart, soul and data to one of the most famous women in the world?
Celebrities like Kendall Jenner can profit from replications of their likeness, working this new technology to their advantage and furthering their already exorbitant wealth. Of course, the general public isn’t awarded this privilege. The American labour union SAG-AFTRA: the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, have been on strike since July over a plethora of issues, one being the use of AI by film and TV production companies. In paying actors for half a day's work, production studios wish to scan and catalogue actors' likeness, using their image forever, for whatever purpose and without paying royalties. Companies can reap the on-screen benefits of a human body, voice and character, without the inconvenience of an actual person: a living breathing individual who deserves to be paid for their time and work. It is becoming common practice for AI to assume an actor's voice, removing the need to re-record dialogue, alongside using AI extras to bolster crowds or fill background shots. This is efficiency capitalism at its most potent. Morally bankrupt and deeply unethical; this cost-cutting exercise extracts workers’ inherent property: their identity, allowing corporations to derive profit from not just their labour, but also their existence. It is wrong to assume that only actors will suffer if this becomes normalised.
Like other natural resources that have come before us, whether it be coal or oil, in the age of artificial intelligence our image and sentience is a new resource to be mined, managed and extracted. Within the comforts of Web 2.0, we upload small snippets of ourselves online, and yet it has profoundly impacted how we perceive ourselves and others offline. How would the human psyche be affected if our entire being could be captured and manipulated online? The one thing entirely unique to us replicated, distorted and potentially weaponised? Whilst it is easy to spiral down a dystopian wormhole into a world that thankfully does not yet exist, we must lay the foundations for our evolving relationship with AI, ensuring this technology is ruthlessly regulated. Otherwise, our new AI bestie Billie will be the least of our worries.
Words: Emma Quin