Suzanne Somers’ husband, Alan Hamel, has shared that he is creating an AI clone of his late wife two years after her death, aged 76.
The Three’s Company actress, fitness guru and prolific author died in October 2023 after she was diagnosed with breast cancer, with co-stars like Barry Manilow paying tribute to her legacy at the time.
The actor was also known for TV shows like Step By Step, where she played Carol Lambert for over seven years and movies such as Serial Mom and American Graffiti.
Now, Hamel has revealed his plans for creating an AI Twin of the screen star who was ‘greatly loved, not only by her family but millions of people’.
At a conference earlier this year, Hamel unveiled a demo version of the AI model, declaring it was ‘perfect’.
He explained: ‘It was Suzanne. And I asked her a few questions, and she answered them, and it blew me and everybody else away.
‘When you look at the finished one next to the real Suzanne, you can’t tell the difference. It’s amazing. And I mean, I’ve been with Suzanne for 55 years, so I know what her face looks like.’
Hamel added that when he ‘looks at the two of them side by side’ he can’t even tell the real and AI version apart. As for his interaction with the AI, he said he said it was ‘strange’ at first, but he got used to the idea soon enough.
To create as close a likeness as possible, the AI model was trained on copious amounts of Somers content.
As her husband told People, she was fed ‘all of Suzanne’s 27 books and a lot of interviews that she has done, hundreds of interviews, so that she’s really ready to be able to be asked any question at all and be able to answer it, because the answer will be within her.’
He even shared that this AI plan was given the seal of approval by Somers herself – with the pair discussing it for decades after Bill Gates first introduced them to the futuristic idea.
‘She said, “I think we should do that… I think it’ll be very interesting and we’ll provide a service to my fans and to people who have been reading my books who really want and need information about their health“,’ he recalled.
Adding that he loves ‘being able to fulfil her wish’ and their family ‘really, really love the idea’ despite his initial concerns they may not.
He is still testing her reception outside the home, however, sharing that when he suggested her as one of the honourees for the Kennedy Centre, they said they ‘have to be alive’.
Then he confirmed plans to roll her out to the public, putting her up on SuzanneSomers.com when he is ‘satisfied’ where she’ll be ‘available 24/7’.
AI is increasingly becoming normalised in Hollywood, with the industry recently announcing the existence of the AI actor, Tilly Norwood, who has been blasted by actors such as Emily Blunt, calling it ‘terrifying’.
Meanwhile, not all AI clones of late celebrities have been received as well as Somers’.
The daughter of the late actor Robin Williams, Zelda, was forced to issue a plea to fans to stop making AI-generated content of her father and sending it to her.
‘Stop believing I wanna see it or that I’ll understand, I don’t and I won’t,’ she wrote.
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