You Can Now Clone Yourself on YouTube With an AI Avatar Tool

If you’re a YouTube creator, you can now create a digital twin with YouTube’s new avatar clone tool. It uses your likeness to create an avatar that can be featured in YouTube Shorts without you ever setting foot in front of the camera again. 

“Avatars create a digital version of yourself so you can generate videos that look and sound like you, safely and securely,” Google writes in a post. 

When asked about safeguards the app has in place to protect your likeness when using the feature, a Google spokesperson said: “Only the user themselves can create and control their avatar. No one else can use it. If videos are opt-ed in to remix, then other users can remix a video with the avatar but they cannot control or change the avatar itself.”

If you delete the avatar, your selfie video and voice recording data for that avatar is permanently removed from YouTube. 

“Only you can use your avatar to create original videos, you can delete it at any time, and all output is labeled as AI,” the post adds. 

Shorts that use the avatar will be labeled as AI-generated content, according to the company. 

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan previously stated that “AI will remain a tool for expression, not a replacement” within YouTube. As with all social media apps, YouTube has struggled to rein in AI-generated content. However, that doesn’t seem to be deterring the company from adding more AI tools to the platform.