Scott Jacqmein, a 52-year-old actor in Dallas, fields one or two texts a week from acquaintances and friends who are pretty sure they have seen him pitching a peculiar variety of businesses on TikTok. There was an insurance-quote marketplace, a daily horoscope app, and a puzzle and brain teaser app, the last of which featured him speaking fluent Spanish.

But the ads seem a little off to them. He’s missing his trademark facial hair, and the voice and gestures appear somewhat stilted. And Jacqmein doesn’t speak Spanish.

As it turns out, he didn’t actually perform in any of the videos.

Instead, the ads were made using his “digital avatar,” fueled by artificial intelligence, after he licensed his likeness to TikTok last year. Now, a version of Jacqmein is out on the internet, peddling whate

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