FKA Twigs creates a deepfake to do publicity for her

The Future. Musician, dancer, and actor FKA Twigs announced that she’s rolling out a deepfake of herself to handle her online presence, giving her more time to focus on what she actually wants to do — make music. If fans enjoy engaging with Twigs’ chatbot, expect deepfakes to soon be running nearly every celebrity’s social media profiles.

Twigs 2.0
FKA Twigs is launching a deepfake of herself that will do all the work she doesn’t want to do.

• Dubbed “AI Twigs,” the chatbot was trained on the artist’s personality, voice, and tone, while also being able to speak several languages.
• Twigs said that it will “extend my reach and handle my online social media interactions,” while she focuses “on my art from the comfort and solace of my studio” (very similar to Meta’s pitch for its celebrity-focused chatbot feature).

The revelation was made during a testimony to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property yesterday, where Twigs spoke in support of legislation, saying, “These and similar emerging technologies are highly valuable tools both artistically and commercially when under the control of the artist.”

By making her own deepfake that she controls — something that the company Metaphysic is trying to scale for all public figures — Twigs seems to be trying to prove the power and utility of the technology.