A veteran porn star is turning to artificial intelligence to create a virtual doppelganger that will enable her to keep earning a living long after her prime performing years.
Sophie Dee, a 39-year-old adult content creator based in Las Vegas, is partnering with an AI company to create a digital alter ego that mimics her look and voice while charging users at least $4.99 per month.
“Models, adult models especially, are like athletes in a way. During our porn years, we don’t get residuals, there’s no health insurance, you just get one check, and you never know when it’s going to end,” Dee told The Washington Post.
“Now I just feel like, with the AI, I can continue. Even if I decide to stop one day from shooting … adult stuff, it can carry on.”
Dee has forged a partnership with STXT to create SophieAI, a digital persona that bears her likeness and copies her voice.
The company uses Meta’s free, open-source AI large language model, Llama 2, to mimic Dee’s voice.
STXT also scoured the internet for explicit and racy conversations that would form the basis of a “sexting data set” with which it trained SophieAI.
The developers had Dee fill out a questionnaire with hundreds of details about her family and personal life in order to make the doppelganger as real as possible, according to The Washington Post.
STXT also used an AI-powered image-generating tool that is able to create fake photos of Dee based off of old pictures of her.
The company envisions subscribers forming a relationship with SophieAI, who is “so much more than any other chatbot,” according to its description.
“She’s an evolving fantasy, learning and remembering your unique tastes for an experience that grows more personalized and more passionate with every conversation.”
SophieAI, which launched last month, has amassed around 700 subscribers.
Some of them pay an extra $9.99 to to view videos.
But others in the sex industry said that the technology is too nascent to ensure a steady income stream for performers.
Allie Rae, 39, who left her full-time, $85,000-a-year job as a nurse to become a full-time adult content creator that earns six figures on OnlyFans, told The Post that she has fielded several offers from tech startups who pledged to build her a money-making doppelganger.
“I can’t tell you how many companies have been in my DMs offering a similar service,” Rae told The Post.
“It’s honestly at least weekly that I get an email from some random AI startup telling me they are gonna build me an AI bot and make me (more) millions.”
Rae told The Post that “the technology is lacking right now to full accommodate the sex work industry and do it right” and to “make it monetizable.”
Rae said the allure of creating an AI doppelganger could persuade sex workers who are seeking publicity.
“This could come back to hurt them if not done right the first time,” she said.
Nonetheless, Dee is undeterred.
“I’m always going to be available,” Dee told The Washington Post. She said that the new technology ensures that there will be “generations of Sophie, only getting better with time.”
