Metta World Peace Launches AI Twin to Conquer Commerce, Combat Deepfakes

LOS ANGELES, CA – March 04, 2026 – In a move that blurs the lines between celebrity, technology, and global commerce, NBA All-Star and Champion Metta World Peace is now interacting with fans and selling products live in Southeast Asia. He is speaking multiple languages, customized for local audiences, and operating around the clock. The only catch: it isn't him. It is his officially licensed, AI-powered digital likeness.

This week, 37 Partners, a venture platform co-founded by Metta World Peace, launched its flagship product: Perpetual Celebrity Commerce (PCC). The platform enables public figures to deploy hyper-realistic digital twins for live e-commerce and fan engagement. Metta’s digital self serves as the inaugural case study, going live on Shopee, the dominant e-commerce marketplace in Southeast Asia with a staggering 52% market share in 2024.

The launch represents a calculated step into the future of celebrity branding, one that aims to solve two fundamental problems: the logistical impossibility of a global star being everywhere at once and the rising, chaotic threat of unauthorized AI-generated deepfakes. By creating an authenticated and controlled digital presence, 37 Partners is betting it can build a new, ethical framework for how talent monetizes their identity in the AI era.

A New Frontier in Global Fan Engagement

The core challenge PCC addresses is a paradox of modern fame: demand for top-tier talent is global, but the talent's time and attention are finite. Traditional tours, appearances, and media engagements are constrained by travel, time zones, and language barriers, leaving significant fanbases and commercial opportunities untapped.

“In my career, I have seen how global demand can be real while access is still limited by bandwidth, time zones, and travel,” said Metta World Peace, Co-Founder and Chairman of 37 Partners. “This is a way to show up with consent, with control, and with accountability, and to build a lasting relationship with fans in markets where live commerce is already how people discover and buy.”

The technology behind Metta’s digital likeness is engineered to overcome these limitations. Leveraging advanced AI from technology partner Johnsmith.ai, the platform can host livestream commerce sessions, interact with fans in real-time, and provide live multilingual translation and regional customization. This allows the digital avatar to seamlessly switch between languages, engaging a diverse audience on a personal level that was previously impossible to scale. The result is a persistent, borderless virtual presence that can operate 24/7, turning a celebrity’s brand into an always-on global asset.

The Authenticity Arms Race

While the commercial opportunities are vast, the launch of PCC is also a defensive maneuver in the escalating war over digital identity. The proliferation of deepfakes and unauthorized AI-generated content has created a volatile environment where a celebrity’s image, voice, and likeness can be co-opted without permission, leading to reputational damage and lost revenue.

The legal landscape, particularly the “right of publicity,” has struggled to keep pace with the technology. Protections vary by jurisdiction, and the ease with which publicly available data can be scraped to train AI models has created a de facto standard where consent is an afterthought. PCC is designed to directly counteract this by establishing a system built on explicit authorization.

“As unauthorized use of voices and likenesses accelerates, the dividing line becomes whether a system can scale with safeguards and enforcement,” said Matthew Heller, Co-Founder and CEO of 37 Partners. “Perpetual Celebrity Commerce is built so talent authorizes the use, dictates the terms, and keeps control.”

This control is granular. Talent using the platform retains approval over what their digital likeness can say and do, the product categories it can endorse, and the content it must avoid. This ensures brand consistency and legal integrity across all campaigns and markets. Furthermore, 37 Partners actively monitors for unauthorized uses of its clients' likenesses and takes action, providing a layer of enforcement that is often missing for individuals trying to protect their own digital IP. Crucially, all content generated through PCC is transparently labeled as AI, with the avatars themselves programmed to acknowledge their digital nature, drawing a clear line between authentic representation and deceptive deepfakes.

Tapping into Asia's E-Commerce Gold Rush

The choice to debut Metta’s digital twin on Shopee is a highly strategic one, targeting the heart of the global live commerce explosion. While nascent in the West, livestream shopping is a dominant force in Asia. China’s market alone surpassed 4.9 trillion yuan in 2023, and the model is deeply embedded in consumer behavior across Southeast Asia. AI-powered digital hosts are already becoming a key part of this ecosystem, offering brands the ability to run continuous sales broadcasts without human fatigue.

By entering this market, 37 Partners is not just testing a new technology but tapping into a mature and lucrative commercial channel. Shopee’s massive user base provides an immediate, scaled audience for Metta’s digital likeness, allowing the platform to generate revenue from day one. The company operates on a licensing and revenue-share model, ensuring that the talent directly participates in the financial success of their digital counterpart’s activities. This alignment of interests is critical for attracting other high-profile personalities to the platform.

This venture builds upon 37 Partners’ established foundation of connecting Western talent with Asian markets. The company has already executed multi-city activations, managed social media for major sporting events in China, and launched basketball camps and tours for its clients, giving it the operational expertise to navigate these complex ecosystems.

The Future of Digital Identity and Monetization

The launch of Metta World Peace's digital twin is more than a novelty; it is a potential blueprint for the future of the talent industry. It proposes a world where celebrities can scale their global presence infinitely without sacrificing control over their own identity. As the platform proves its model, the roster of talent is expected to grow, with additional high-profile athletes and entertainers slated for announcement in the coming months.

For public figures, the proposition is compelling: a new, scalable revenue stream, deeper engagement with international fans, and a powerful tool to protect their brand against the rising tide of digital impersonation. The success of Perpetual Celebrity Commerce will hinge on its ability to maintain the delicate balance between technological innovation and the trust of both the talent and their audiences.

As 37 Partners prepares to expand across more markets and platforms through 2026, the industry will be watching closely. This initiative could mark a pivotal shift, establishing a new standard for how celebrity identity is managed, monetized, and protected in an increasingly synthetic world.