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en · THE GUARDIAN SPORT

‘Synthetic twin’: Why Socceroo Cristian Volpato is the latest footballer to license his AI clone

NewTimes newsroomPublished 24/10/2026 · 21:00 CEST
‘Synthetic twin’: Why Socceroo Cristian Volpato is the latest footballer to license his AI clone
Image supplied by The Guardian Sport via its feed. Source and further context below.

The story

Source: The Guardian Sport · NewTimes editorial text based on the source feed.

Athletes’ scramble to control – and monetise – their digital identities at the cutting edge of AI rights deals Get our new political email , free app or daily news podcast The Socceroos star stares at the camera as he strides through an enormous atrium, the sound of his football boots on polished concrete echoing around him.

Suddenly, he spawns four digital clones that peel off out of view to re-emerge in different settings around the world.

This scene from a social media video is fake and generated by artificial intelligence.

But it has been authorised by the very real 22-year-old footballer, Cristian Volpato, the latest professional athlete to licence and monetise his AI likeness.