Why Soccer Star Cristian Volpato Licensed His AI Clone

Australian soccer player Cristian Volpato has signed a deal to license an AI-generated copy of himself. The 22-year-old, who plays for Italian club Sassuolo, teamed up with a California company called Callandor in September. The company creates what it calls 'synthetic twins' — realistic digital clones of real athletes. Volpato's deal lets Callandor use his AI likeness to earn money from brands while he focuses on training and playing.

A video made by Callandor shows a digital Volpato walking through a large building, then splitting into four clones that appear in different places around the world. One clone stands near the famous Twelve Apostles rock formation in Australia wearing a white suit. Another appears on a giant billboard in a soccer jersey. The video looks very real, but every image of Volpato in it was made by artificial intelligence.

Callandor's co-founder, Michael Fisk, says athletes miss out on brand deals simply because they don't have enough free time. 'Cristian is constantly training,' Fisk says. 'If he has any free time whatsoever, he'll probably want to spend it with family and friends, so he loses on a lot of opportunities on brand placements.' A synthetic twin, he explains, could work for brands every hour of every day — as long as Volpato approves each use.

Fisk used to work at big entertainment companies like Sony Pictures and MGM. He started Callandor in February and already has a small group of athletes signed up, including Brazilian soccer player Jorginho and American sailor Chris Poole. Beyond regular ads, Fisk's team is also exploring ideas like apps where fans could get real-time coaching from an athlete's digital clone. For example, a digital Volpato could watch someone kick a soccer ball and give tips on how to improve.

Volpato is not the first athlete to go this route. In June, Brazilian superstar Neymar licensed his AI likeness to an entertainment platform that made short videos during the FIFA World Cup. Experts say this kind of deal is still very new, but it is growing fast. Governments around the world are still trying to figure out how to create rules for AI, and many sports leagues have not yet added AI to their player contracts.

Not everyone is waiting for athletes to come to them, though. Some companies have already been using players' images without asking. Earlier this month, the AFL told its gambling partner Sportsbet to stop using AI images of players without their consent. That action came after the players' union complained about it. William Saunders, who runs a similar Sydney-based company called Hyperknown, says this shows why athletes need to act quickly.

Saunders believes athletes who don't take control of their AI image will lose money and power over their own identity. He says AI clones could one day sell products in foreign languages in countries where athletes have never even visited. 'The next trust signal won't just say made with AI,' he said. 'It will say made with this person's permission.' He believes that having someone's real approval will become an important part of doing business in the future.

There are also legal questions that come with this new industry. Jonathan Harlen, an expert in intellectual property law at Southern Cross University, says current copyright laws were written with humans in mind. Those laws don't automatically protect AI-made copies of a person's image or voice. Athletes do have some legal protection, but only if they can prove that an unauthorized AI copy actually cost them money.

Meanwhile, fake AI videos — called deepfakes — are already a big problem. Earlier this year, an online casino used a fake AI video of Manchester United player Bruno Fernandes in an ad without his permission. Top footballers in the UK, including Cole Palmer and Lucy Bronze, recently launched a campaign to raise awareness about deepfakes. The global players' union, Fifpro, supported the campaign. Fisk says some fan-made AI content is harmless, but images that spread false messages or link athletes to things like drugs or religion can be very damaging and must be controlled carefully.