Artists Embracing Their Multiversal Identities ... Maybe Out of Desperation

The story about an AI-generated hit song leveraging the voice of singer Drake created considerable panic in the music industry. Some, however, are running toward the chaos ... perhaps because they feel they have no other choice. Canadian electro-pop artist Grimes has already offered a 50% royalty split with any creator who clones her voice and makes a hit song with it.

Around the same time, supermodel Eva Herzigová worked with virtual production studio Dimension to have her body and movements scanned with over 70 cameras so they can offer a Metahuman version of her which will be able to star in "virtual fashion shows in VR or 3D browser-based experiences, serve as a model for digital wearables" and participate in live video streams.

In The Future Normal, we opened the book talking about Multiversal Identity as a term to describe how we would all increasingly feel the need to extend our identities across digital platforms. For some, it's clearly more urgent to do so than others. These two pioneering artists are indications of a wider trend that we will continue to watch.