https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPU0WNUzsBo
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© YouTube America’s Got Talent
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You may remember Chris Umé as the video artist who went viral in early 2021 with a deepfake of Tom Cruise. That same Belgian has now also made a name for itself in America’s Got Talentwhere he made the judges laugh with a live vocal performance by Simon Cowell… while the judge watched himself.
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Umé and his business partner were still a bit vague when they auditioned for the seventeenth season of America’s Got Talent, which started last week, came to tell us what their ‘talent’ was. For that they needed the help of Daniel Emmet, an American singer who already caused a furore in the television program four years ago.
It is only when Emmett starts to sing and jury member Simon Cowell appears simultaneously on the big screen behind him that Umé’s talent becomes clear: the Belgian is known for his deepfakes, technology whereby false video images of someone can be made with the help of artificial intelligence. .
While Emmett gives the best of himself, Cowell apparently wants to sink through the ground, but with the other judges and the audience the hilarity trumps. Although Cowell does praise afterwards: “Is it inappropriate to fall in love with a participant?”, says the notoriously arrogant Englishman jokingly. “It’s strange, but I love you, Daniel. I’ve always said there’s such a thing as the perfect contestant: a great singer who looks great. Well, today we found him.”
Umé also received the green light from the other judges Heidi Klum, Sofia Vergara and Howie Mandel, so we will see him again later this season.
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