Genies, the AI companion tech firm, announced the launch of AI Companion Talent Creation Tools.
The tools are aimed at extending intellectual property across entertainment, music, and sports to design, train, and deploy intelligent, expressive AI identities that can talk and interact with their fans. These AI companions unlock unique one on one relationships between talent and fans for new forms of engagement and monetization.
AI has made it now far too easy for likenesses and personalities to be replicated without permission, fueling a wave of unauthorized identity use across entertainment, brand campaigns and social media.
This has led to high-profile figures and IP issuing cease-and-desist letters and lawsuits over the misuse of their images and voices in AI-driven content. While not an exact parallel, Genies packages AI in an IP-safe digital asset framework for the next era of fan engagement, one built from the ground up to ensure that every digital identity is properly protected and leveraged authentically, while still allowing talent to capture the upside benefits of AI.
Genies built its technology and framework to scale, specifically for major talent organizations. Through its AI companion autogeneration technology and self-serve tools, these organizations can instantly replicate their entire rosters of thousands of talent, while empowering each individual to manage their own AI companion through a dedicated portal.
With Genies’ tech, talent and IP owners can create, control, and deploy stylized AI avatars of themselves that are capable of not just chat, but also interacting in apps and games.The company recently partnered with Unity to provide its AI avatar and UGC technology to the world’s largest developer community, who are beginning to develop an ecosystem of experiences for AI companions to have more utility. This allows fans not only to chat but engage in gamified experiences.
Genies AI companions are based on the following dimensions: Looks, Brain, Behavior and Play. Each step of the creation process builds on the last, from creation to monetization, giving talent full control over how they exist for future fan engagement.
Here are the six steps of each AI companion:
Create Companion – Autogenerate a stylized, game-ready avatar from a single photo. Example: A pop star about to kick off her album tour wants to reach younger fans in the digital spaces they live in and launches her AI Companion to do so. She uploads press photos through Genies’ Autogeneration tool to produce a stylized version with matching hair, makeup, and tour wardrobe. Her avatar becomes the “digital face” of the tour, aligning with visuals fans already see on stage and online while engaging them where they spend most of their time. This expands her tour’s reach and builds lasting connections.
Give it a Brain and Behavior – Leveraging the AI Personality Studio, talent are able to leverage internal documents and content to generate their personality and behaviors. Example: With Genies’ guidance, she trains her companion using rehearsal footage, interviews, studio diaries, and commentary about her songs so it reflects her tone, humor, and energy. The companion learns how she talks about her music, tour moments, and inspirations, referencing them naturally in fan conversations.
Talk with Fans One on One – Fans engage one-on-one through personalized interactions. Example: Once live, fans can chat with her companion after a show to unpack lyrics, ask about choreography, or seek advice and wellness tips. The companion becomes an extension of her personality that deepens connection.
Create Content – Leveraging the Genies AR Camera which tracks face and body movements, talent can create TikTok and IG content with their AI Companion. Example: Between tour stops, her companion keeps the narrative alive across social channels using Genies’ content tools, teasing setlist changes, sharing easter eggs, or reacting to fan clips. It evolves from a static asset into a living personality that builds authentic friendship.
Empower Fans – Leveraging the Genies AIGC Digital Goods Studio, talent can create and sell digital goods that fans can use or design their own for AI Companions. Example: As part of the tour, the companion invites fans to co-create digital items like jackets, mic props, or stage visuals via Genies’ UGC tools. Standout creations appear in future drops or stage visuals. She equips her favorite fan-made assets onto her avatar or lets fans use them on their own companions in games.
Live Everywhere – Because of the Genies’ native avatar framework, talent AI Companions are game-ready assets that can travel across a suite of apps and games (unlike photos and videos). Talent can manage and monetize the companion and its creations across an interoperable ecosystem. Example: The pop star’s companion can be offered across games and digital experiences, hosting a rhythm game where fans dance alongside her avatar, appearing in a brand’s game, or performing in a co-branded digital venue tied to a festival.
“We are entering a time when the rules of digital identity, likeness, and creative ownership are being rewritten,” said Jake Becker, director of business development and strategy at Genies, in a statement. “As platforms like OpenAI’s Sora face questions about likeness use without consent, and as talent agencies look to enforce client rights, the need for control and protection has never been clearer. Our goal is to let talent bring their visual AI identity to life as dynamic, interactive companions they own and manage. By building clear guardrails and control, we ensure they can safely engage audiences while maintaining ownership of their digital selves and unlocking new, authentic ways to connect and monetize.”