Digital Marilyn, an interactive AI avatar of Marilyn Monroe that was created using GPT-3.5 by Soul Machines and Authentic Brands Group, was unveiled at SXSW
Can't wait to meet Digital Marilyn? Enter your details below and you'll … Cheyenne MacDonald / Engadget : AI Marilyn Monroe adds to the list of dead celebrities digitally resurrected without consent Jason Nelson / Decrypt : Marilyn Monroe to Be Resurrected With ‘Biological AI’ Soul Machines : Digital Marilyn Stepping Into The AI Spotlight With The Magic of Biological AI Charisma Madarang / Rolling Stone : AI-Generated Marilyn Monroe Answers Questions in Dead Celebrity's ‘Voice and Style’ Dawn Chmielewski / Reuters : Some Like It Bot: Realistic digital Marilyn Monroe to make debut at tech conference Todd Spangler / Variety : AI-Generated Marilyn Monroe Chatbot Can Hold an Extended Conversation With ‘Realistic Emotions’ and Expressions, Company Claims Tatiana Tenreyro / The Hollywood Reporter : AI Version of Marilyn Monroe Unveiled at SXSW Bluesky: @ltjf.bsky.social : In closing, you people must realize that the public owns you for life, and when you're dead you'll all be in commercials, dancing with vacuum cleaners. @carljanderson.bsky.social : So useful. — Isn't this how you can tell that there is too much money in this? How would this be even remotely profitable? @tranniehall.bsky.social : These mfers refuse to ever let this woman rest. [embedded post] Ian Rennie / @theangelremiel.bsky.social : How unspeakably vile. Ed Zitron / @zitron.bsky.social : This was created by the freaks that have destroyed Sports Illustrated (authentic brands group) [embedded post] Patricia Sauthoff / @sauthoff.bsky.social : Me: How are you? — Digital Marilyn: Dead. Leave me the fuck alone. [embedded post] X: Simon Martin / @nzsimonm : Introducing Digital Marilyn Monroe, our latest Soul Machines Digital Celebrity. Powered by Biological AI, she creates endless, interactive fan enchantment. Intrigued? Be the first to learn more about Digital Marilyn at https://soulmachines.com/. [video] @rollingstone : In step with a growing trend of extending celebrity value beyond the grave, Marilyn Monroe has been resurrected as an AI-generated “Digital Marilyn” capable of answering questions in the dead icon's “voice and style”
Context & Ripple Effects
Digital Marilyn extends an existing market for conversational digital personas: earlier coverage described companies building systems to let people interact with digital versions of deceased loved ones, while Hour One was paying people to use their likenesses in AI-voiced characters. This launch applies that technical and commercial model to a globally recognized entertainment identity.
The project pairs Soul Machines' avatar technology with Authentic Brands Group and uses GPT-3.5, making the SXSW debut of an interactive Marilyn Monroe avatar a concrete test of whether a legacy persona can function as an ongoing AI experience rather than static licensed media.
First-order effects
- Soul Machines and Authentic Brands Group now have a public interactive avatar product to demonstrate, centered on Marilyn Monroe's voice-and-style persona and presented at SXSW.
- The launch puts a conversational interface around a deceased celebrity identity, moving the experience beyond the video and image formats associated with conventional brand licensing.
Second-order effects
- The demonstration raises the competitive bar for avatar vendors: realistic presentation must be paired with dialogue, persona controls, and a credible path to commercialization.
- It gives entertainment-rights holders a visible reference point as they assess AI-avatar partnerships; earlier paid likeness deals for AI characters show that consent and commercial terms can be part of the production model.
Third-order effects
- If such launches gain durable audiences, celebrity estates and brand owners may increasingly treat interactive personas as a reusable licensing category, alongside traditional media and merchandising.
- The same shift will intensify questions around consent, representation, and the boundaries of simulated relationships—issues already visible in coverage of commercial uses of deceased-person AI avatars.
The trend: This is one data point in the commercialization of AI personas, where likeness rights and conversational models are being combined into persistent entertainment products.