Korea’s Galaxy Corporation aims to create global celebrity avatars with AI

Choi Yong-ho, chief executive officer of Galaxy Corporation Co. [Courtesy of Galaxy Corporation]

Galaxy Corporation Co., the first metaverse avatar portal company in South Korea, aims to create artificial intelligence (AI) avatars of deceased global celebrities, as well as currently living celebrities, in a metaverse space.

“We want to build a studio for the dead in each major city in each country to create global AI avatars in earnest,” said Choi Yong-ho, chief executive officer of Galaxy Corporation, in a recent interview with Maeil Business Newspaper. In fact, the company is already launching its Japanese subsidiary in Tokyo this month.

“After Japan, we will set up subsidiaries in major cities around the world, including Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to speed up the process of deep learning and creating AI avatars from the intellectual property (IP) of overseas celebrities who are now deceased or alive,” Choi said.

Choi is already working with legendary boxer and current Philippine senator Manny Pacquiao to create his AI avatar. The idea is for the company’s in-house developed AI system to create an AI avatar of Pacquiao by deep learning decades of data, videos and writings directly related to Pacquiao.

“Celebrities who are alive today are showing great interest in being able to interact with the next generation through AI avatars in virtual space even after their death,” said Choi. “Even for deceased celebrities, it would be of great value to society in terms of education, if AI could create them with the consent of their families.”

Galaxy Corporation’s work has attracted significant attention from OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT. Sam Altman, the creator of ChatGPT, expressed his interest in the project when he visited South Korea last month. “It is an intriguing project,” he said, while advising Choi that “there should be no problems with the bereaved families or ethical aspects” regarding restoring the IP of the deceased with AI through deep learning.

Choi also plans to restore avatars of prominent figures from Korea, including Admiral Yi Sun-sin, using AI.