Find Your Celebrity Twin Using AI

Uncovering Your Digital Doppelganger

Have you ever wondered how others see you, or what your true appearance is? While asking a friend might get you a polite answer, an AI chatbot offers a more unfiltered perspective. Although finding your lookalike isn't the most revolutionary use of artificial intelligence, it's a fun and amusing distraction. It certainly beats some other bizarre AI trends, like the one that turns you into an AI action figure.

The concept is similar to the popular Reddit Doppelganger group, where users ask strangers to identify their lookalikes. Here, you're just asking an AI instead. This is just one of many quirky ways people are using AI, from creating images of hugging your younger self to getting beauty advice or even seeing how you might age.

After searching for a specific celebrity-lookalike app, I discovered I could simply use a custom GPT within ChatGPT by uploading a few selfies. Let's see how it goes.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET's parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

How to Find Your Lookalike with ChatGPT

First, you need to prepare your photos. Select about three clear, up-to-date pictures of yourself facing forward. Ensure you are the only person in the photo and avoid sunglasses, filters, or poor lighting for the best results.

Trying to ask the main ChatGPT model directly won't work, as it refuses face-matching requests due to its policy against facial recognition. It will give you a generic list of other ways to find your doppelganger.

Fortunately, there's a workaround. In the ChatGPT sidebar, click on "GPTs" and type "celebrity" into the search bar. The top result, Find My Celebrity Look Alike, has been used over 6 million times. Select it and click Start Chat.

This will open a dedicated chatbox where you can upload your photos and choose a prompt, such as finding a single lookalike or multiple ones.

The Results: My AI Doppelganger Experiment

I started by asking for my single most accurate celebrity match. After analyzing my photos, ChatGPT identified actress Gillian Jacobs.

When I asked for a side-by-side comparison, things got strange. The AI generated a bizarre, alien-like caricature of me. My attempts to have it use my real photo only resulted in worse AI-adjusted images.

So, I created my own comparison. Here is the real me on the left and Gillian Jacobs on the right.

A Second Try Reveals Inconsistent Results

Curious, I ran the prompt again but asked for four celebrity lookalikes. This time, Gillian Jacobs was nowhere to be found. Instead, I got this list:

• Amy Adams
• Carey Mulligan
• Ellie Kemper
• Renee Zellweger

I didn't see much resemblance to any of them. It seems the first result was the most accurate. Interestingly, the AI's analysis wasn't just based on facial features; it also considered my clothing and "vibe." It even told me I had a "mischievous vibe" and an "all-American" appearance, which is amusing since I'm Australian.

So, what's the verdict? My wife's response to the Gillian Jacobs comparison was, "I can see it." That's good enough for me.

While this ChatGPT tool is a fun way to find your celebrity twin, it's best not to take it too seriously. Enjoy the process, but unless you want a laugh at a distorted AI caricature, avoid asking it to create a side-by-side photo for you.