Hyper-Realistic AI Avatars Are Pushing 'Hologram' Concerts Further Than Ever

Advances in digital avatar technology are enabling increasingly realistic recreations of musicians, living and deceased, for use in concert experiences, according to comments from industry figures.

Barney Wragg, chief executive of avatar concert producer Unit1 Studio, described in a recent interview efforts to use AI to simulate minute physical details in digital performers, including how tears evaporate in the eye between blinks and how subcutaneous blood flow causes skin tone to shift when a digital character smiles or laughs.

Digital avatars already feature in the entertainment landscape, with past examples including recreations of performers such as Tupac Shakur, Abba and Maria Callas. Wragg's company recently reported a substantial investment aimed at developing hyper-realistic avatar entertainment, with plans to roll out avatars of both living and deceased musicians for a wider range of hybrid concerts, building on the commercial success of Abba Voyage.

The technology underlying these avatar concerts relies on large video-screen projections rather than true three-dimensional holograms, creating an illusion of a live performer on stage. As the realism of these avatars increases, the trend has prompted broader discussion about the role of AI-generated performances relative to live, in-person musical experiences.