ICON launches Digital Twins to protect real talent and give brands an ethical AI alternative

With AI-generated “talent” already widespread across fashion marketing, e-commerce, and advertising, ICON Management today launches ICON Digital (ID), a new agency division offering consent-first digital twin bookings.

ICON Digital enables brands to create everything from e-commerce imagery to full campaigns using licensed digital likenesses of real people, not synthetic models built from scraped or stolen human data. ID has been developed to give the market a practical ethical pathway at a time when many campaigns are already being produced using unlicensed, non-consensual datasets.

ICON Digital was created to solve a real industry problem: how to use digital content without sacrificing real people’s rights, livelihoods, or creative integrity. ICON began formal research in early 2023, moved into MVP development in mid to late 2023, and continued rigorous R&D and testing across 2024 and 2025. ICON Digital is now production-ready, with private client work underway and a full industry rollout planned for 2026.

“We have never been anti-technology,” said Chelsea Bonner, Founder and CEO of ICON. “We are anti data scraping and theft. We are against human likeness being taken without permission and repurposed into fake people that undermine real careers. ICON Digital is our response to that reality. Clients are already using fake ‘people’ talent built from stolen likeness and unlicensed data. ICON Digital provides a way for them to choose an ethical workflow that keeps real people in the industry and paid for their work.”

ICON Digital provides clients with access to photoreal digital twin libraries of real talent, captured in high-resolution studio workflows and licensed for ongoing campaign use in secure AGI environments. These libraries are created under transparent licensing, written releases, usage tracking, and ongoing performer compensation. As a talent agency with more than 20 years of experience, ICON applies the same contracting, negotiation, and payment standards to digital assets as it does to traditional bookings.

The division also collaborates with real photographers to build ethically licensed background libraries. Every element of an asset, from the human talent to the environment, is sourced with permission and paid for fairly. ICON Digital is designed to extend, not replace, traditional production. Talent and photographers remain central, paid, and licensed for every use.

Bonner noted that the ethical foundations of ICON Digital have been informed by the principles advanced by the Center for Humane Technology, whose mandates on responsible innovation guided the division’s development and operating standards.

“The Center for Humane Technology has shaped the way I think about responsible technology,” Bonner said. “Their work guided my hand throughout the research and development of ICON Digital. We are applying those principles directly to creative AI workflows because the creative and performing arts deserve the same safeguards as every other high-impact industry.”

Bonner acknowledged that launching a digital twin division may feel counterintuitive to some, given her long-standing advocacy for copyright and likeness rights.

“I understand why people might feel conflicted,” she said. “I have spent years fighting for the rights of creative and performing artists, and I will continue to do so. Many brands are already using AI in campaigns, often without disclosure because current legislation does not require it. We will continue to fight for mandatory disclosure on images of fake humans. In the meantime, our job is to protect real talent as much as possible in the world we are now in, and to offer brands an ethical option to do the right thing.”

Bonner added that ICON Digital is a bridge solution, not an endpoint.

“I will keep fighting for regulation that protects the creative industries, and I hope that one day ICON Digital is made obsolete by strong, enforceable laws. Until then, we are building the best ethical option available so real people are not pushed out of their own industry.”

ICON Digital operates as a private, industry-only workflow. The system is not publicly available and is not designed for consumer use. Clients work directly with ICON Digital to create e-commerce images, content, and full campaigns through a secure, offline production process. This closed model protects talent likeness, client confidentiality, and creator copyright.

“This is not a tool for the general public,” Bonner said. “It is for industry clients who want to create modern content responsibly. We work privately, with strong security and consent controls because protecting talent and creative artists is non-negotiable.”

ICON Digital is also opening its workflow to other agencies, enabling them to create and manage their own digital twin libraries for their talent with the same protections and ethical standards.

“This is not about one company owning the future,” Bonner said. “It is about the industry rallying together. We are gatekeeping for talent, meaning we are protecting minimum ethical standards for likeness, consent, and payment. Protecting human models, performers, and photographers across the industry is our first priority. We are inviting agencies to build this future with us so ethical digital talent becomes the norm, not the exception.”

The launch comes amid accelerating global debate around AI regulation, copyright, and commercial use of human likeness. ICON Digital offers brands modern production speed without ethical compromise, while reducing production waste and emissions compared to repeated physical shoots.

About ICON Management

ICON Management is an Australian talent agency with 23 years of experience representing models, performers, creators, and artists across fashion, media, entertainment, and advertising.

About ICON Digital

ICON Digital is a private, consent-first digital twin and content creation workflow for fashion, beauty, and advertising clients. ICON Digital combines real human talent, real photographers, and ethically licensed datasets to produce photoreal campaign assets securely and responsibly. ICON Digital exists to protect the rights and ongoing earning power of creative and performing artists in the age of AI.

Media contact
Chelsea Bonner
Founder and CEO, ICON Management