YouTube expands AI Portraits to turn creators into chatbots

YouTube has spent the past few months turning public figures into AI-powered chatbots. Now, the Google-owned platform is giving some creators the same treatment.

As discussed on a Google Support page, a “small group of creators” has given YouTube permission to scrape their likenesses to train AI doppelgangers who look and talk like the individuals they’re based on. The test is part of the rollout for Portraits, a product that fosters conversations between AI facsimiles and the fans of the figures who inspired those bots.

Portraits began earlier this year, when Google started using its Gemini large language model to develop AI personalities that resemble real-world humans. The first test subjects for that effort were motivational speakers and business leaders, who leant the likenesses to Google’s experimental effort. So if you want some advice from author and podcaster Kim Scott, you can seek her out in real life — or, for the next best thing, just connect with the Portrait version of her.

Thanks to the expansion of Portraits, participating creators will be able to streamline interactions with fans. “U.S. viewers 18 years or older watching YouTube on desktop may see the option to ‘Talk to Creator’s Portrait’ on a participating creator’s channel, where viewers can engage with the creator’s Portrait by asking questions and exploring topics related to their content,” reads the Google Support post. “We’ll be monitoring feedback in response to Portraits closely and we’ll keep our community updated on any related news.”

The rise of powerful generative AI programs has encouraged tech companies to compile diverse chatbot libraries inspired by a diverse array of likenesses. Meta arguably led the charge on that front when it introduced genAI characters that resembled creators like MrBeast and Charli D’Amelio. In 2024, Instagram followed up Meta’s effort by getting to work on a program that turns creators into chatbots (with the consent of all involved parties).

Meta has speculated that creator-inspired chatbots can reduce work demands by handling fan interactions that would otherwise pile up in inboxes. That use case certainly applies to YouTube as well, which is one reason why Google has advanced its own chatbot development program.

Even as Google goes full speed ahead, its CEO is wary about the amount of resources that are going into chatbot development. Earlier this year, Sundar Pichai told the BBC that “irrationality” has informed the ongoing AI boom.

Irrational or not, AI investments are still flowing. YouTube’s Portraits have the potential to give creators a piece of that action, and if the feature increases YouTube’s lead in the chatbot referral department, I doubt Pichai and co. will complain.