Fresh off a historic 40-point performance in the finals of the Unrivaled season, WNBA player Kelsey Plum is taking a different shot: an AI twin.
Fans can now voice call with a digital version of the Los Angeles Sparks star. Plum announced the twin on her personal Instagram account on March 6, asking her AI self for advice on her ponytail and coffee versus energy drink.
Plum is the first professional female athlete to launch a verified AI digital twin. It’s a move that’s earning plaudits as a way for women in sports to take control of their image and expand their reach.
“The opportunity to have a twin that can connect with fans, with young people, people that love basketball, people that are just interested in sports. The range is endless,” Plum says. “It’s where we are in society, and I think you are either gonna get with it or get lost.”
Collaboration With Talk2Me
Plum created the twin in partnership with Talk2Me, an AI communications company that creates verified digital humans. CEO Randy Adams considers himself to be on the leading (or bleeding) edge of innovation like this often. He’s a self-described serial entrepreneur—coinventor of Adobe PDF, cofounder of digital comedy brand Funny or Die, and now working on digital AI twins.
“[Kelsey has] moved things from a business standpoint. She’s moved things first from a cultural standpoint,” he says. “We need to find people who are willing to take the risk to go out there and do this. And she’s been willing to do it. And we’re very honored that she is.”
From a technical standpoint, the goal is to get the personality right based on what the celebrity wants. For Plum, that means interacting with fans when she can’t.
“In the arena, I can only talk to so many people, so many fans at one time, and so I think the next best thing would then be to log on and have a one-on-one conversation,” Plum says. “I think it’s just a great opportunity to reach more people and obviously, too, we’re gonna be able to see what people are asking and wanna see, and we’ll be able to grow from there.”
Maximizing reach
Athletes finding ways to connect with fans off the court isn’t new. OK Tomorrow founder and CEO Nilesh Ashra is an expert on the intersection of AI and creativity. He says a move like this is helpful for celebrities like Plum because they’re looking for ways to maximize their reach.
“Old world was they write a book. Recently, new world was create a coaching program,” he says. “Brand-new world is a digital twin.”
And it is a bit of a brand-new world. Because Plum is one of the first to step into this kind of AI digitization, she admits there might be learning curves with some of the twin’s responses. Those potential distortions are where Ashra hesitates.
“I think there is a benefit to interactivity. I think the risks are on unexpected behavior,” he says. “All AI models are nondeterministic. You actually don’t know how they’re going to respond until they’re in that context.”
He’s not the only skeptic. Since Plum’s Instagram launch, commenters haven’t been shy about voicing their concerns about this use of AI.
Some words of caution
“Big fan here in cybersecurity . . . please, you’re teaching it, it’s learning every second and personal interactions add specifity to you besides what it’s gathered about you from the cloud, the IoT, etc.,” one Instagram user wrote.
Many of the comments are from users expressing their support for Plum as an individual and player but opposing the use of AI due to environmental and cybersecurity concerns.
Others are supportive. “I’ll just do your post exit interview with your AI twin, I’ll let you know what the feedback is,” Unrivaled CEO Alex Bazzell joked.
Plum knows the twin isn’t a replacement for her. She’s passionate about mental health and connecting young people with community. But while she’s taking care of business on the court, she wants her AI version to connect with fans in the meantime.
“I just think it gives a way . . . to connect, and that’s a cool thing,” Plum says. “Obviously, we use basketball . . . but I think using a twin in and outside of a basketball lane is something that will be special for people.”