Sunny Leone has always been ahead of her times and this week, the actress partnered with Advanced Generative Artificial Intelligence leader Kamoto.AI and became the first-ever Indian celeb to come up with her official AI replica. Kamoto.AI co-founders Toshendra Sharma, Rohendra Singh said, “This is an AI character marketplace where you can chat with, text message, and call a celebrity. AI is trained on her voice and personal private data on Sunny Leone, that is unique, personalised and which is not available on the internet.”
In an exclusive conversation with Moneycontrol, she spoke about Artificial Intelligence and the need to exert control when using it, what 2024 holds in store for her and her love for reality shows. Edited excerpts:
Introducing an official AI replica of you out in the world, in the time of deepfakes and misuse of AI. What do you feel about this?
AI has been a part of everybody’s life for years now. It just wasn’t put out in this way. Something as simple as — suppose on Instagram you searched for ‘computer’, only things related to that show up on your feed or suppose I liked something red, everything red comes on my feed and this is also artificial intelligence. So, it’s been a part of our lives for a long time and now it’s about creating something new and having fresh technology. As far as AI goes in cloning and using people’s voices and their faces and bodies and their likeness, this is an amazing way in which we can actually regulate the content that goes out. And we can be in control of the things people are listening to or watching and to know that the words coming out of that AI clone’s mouth are true. It’s all authentic, not a lie, nor fake and that part is really important. We have seen political figures, celebrities who have been cloned and then that person has to go out to say ‘Hey I’m here, this is the real me and that what you heard was a fake’. So, I think that this app is going to be a very interesting road ahead. The idea of partnering with a company like this is the best way to keep it all in control. This is definitely a new beginning of sorts, and I hope that this app would ultimately help me create a better bonding and rapport with fans from across the country.
In the last few months, deepfakes of Rashmika Madanna, Kajol, Alia Bhatt, Katrina Kaif and other celebrities created with artificial intelligence have raised major concern. What is your take on this?
Deepfake is disturbing, as an actress and as a human being. Being able to regulate AI content is necessary. With Kamoto.AI we are able to control the content that is coming out. You can ask my AI anything and the answers are authentic. I think when you are part of a company where you are in charge of the content, in charge of your image and how you want to present it, then it is something else. I do believe that there should be some regulations on how certain content is created, about certain personal likeness or image or voice, there should be a certain amount of regulation. And here with this AI, you can control all that.
So, the Sunny Leone clone on the app answers questions on your behalf? How did you do it all? Was there training involved?
I was asked one million questions by the team. So, I am pretty sure that there will be an answer to any question that a person has. This app makes things interesting for a fan. Sometimes a fan wants to ask a question and also wants to hear my voice with the answer, and they can get that here. And that’s really exciting in this app. I think that this AI is amazing, because as a celebrity, you are able to reach out to a different type of fan base where people have questions, people want to ask things. How many times are you going to search the internet for it? Why not just go to one platform and have it all in one single app.
Just like your fans can reach out to your AI replica, which celebrity’s AI would you like to talk to?
I want to do that for Bachchan Sir (Amitabh Bachchan)!
You are all set to come up with the 15th season of MTV Splitsvilla. How excited are you?
I am very excited about MTV Splitsvilla! It’s going to be just as fun as all the other years. I used to watch MTV reality shows earlier as well. What I love about reality shows is the unpredictability of people’s mindsets, their emotions, and the psychology behind why they make certain choices. And I get to see all of that first hand, which is absolutely amazing. Watching these young people in their journey is great and the best thing is that everyone’s journey is always different.
What are your plans for 2024?
My plan for 2024 is to survive 2024! (laughs) It’s going to be an amazing year, and this partnership with Kamoto.AI is just the start of it all. There are going to be a lot of things coming this month itself. I have some great announcements and I am just kicking it off with Kamoto.AI. I have three South Indian films that are coming out this year and there is MTV Splitsvilla, and then I have signed some more films that I will be shooting this year. So, 2024 is packed. It’s a working year and I am so excited about it!
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