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Suzanne Somers’ widower Alan Hamel, who shared a demonstration of the AI twin of the actress following her death from breast cancer in 2023 earlier this year, said this week it was originally her idea.
“It was Suzanne’s idea,” he told People magazine in a story published on Tuesday. “And she said, ‘I think we should do that.’ She said, ‘I think it’ll be very interesting and we’ll provide a service to my fans and to people who have been reading my books who really want and need information about their health.’”
He added, “She said, ‘Let’s do it.’ So that’s the reason we did it. And so I love being able to fulfill her wish.”
Hamel said he and Somers had been talking about the concept since the 1980s.
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Suzanne Somers’ widower Alan Hamel, who shared a demonstration of the AI twin of the actress following her death from breast cancer in 2023 earlier this year, said this week it was originally her idea. (David Livingston/Getty Images)
“We have been friends with Ray Kurzweil,” he said, who first explained the idea to them decades ago.
“Bill Gates described Ray Kurzweil as the smartest man on the planet, which he is,” Hamel continued. “And he became our friend 30-some years ago and we talked about this. We knew it was coming. It took decades to happen, but he knew it was going to happen, and he shared that information with us,” Hamel explained.
Hamel has been working with AI company Hollo to create Somers’ twin, telling People that she looks and sounds just like the real thing.
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“It was Suzanne,” he said. “And I asked her a few questions and she answered them, and it blew me and everybody else away,” he said of the demonstration he did at Roth 25, an AI conference earlier this year.
Suzanne Somers and husband Alan Hamel in 1980. (Harry Langdon/Getty Images)
“When you look at the finished one next to the real Suzanne, you can’t tell the difference,” he said. “It’s amazing. And I mean, I’ve been with Suzanne for 55 years, so I know what her face looks like, and when I just look at the two of them side by side, I really can’t tell which one is the real and which one is the AI.”
Hamel interacted with the Suzanne Somers AI bot at a recent tech conference. (Courtesy of Hollo.AI)
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Hamel and Somers in 2015. (Getty Images)
Somers died on Oct. 15, 2023, at 76 years old following a long battle with breast cancer. She was first diagnosed in 2000.
She and Hamel were married for nearly 44 years after they met in the 1960s on the game show “The Anniversary Game” and married in 1977.
Somers and Hamel in 1978. (Getty Images)
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He told People that the AI twin has been fed “all of Suzanne’s 27 books and a lot of interviews that she has done, hundreds of interviews, so that she’s really ready to be able to be asked any question at all and be able to answer it, because the answer will be within her.”