Russian strongman Vladimir Putin took a question from an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated version of himself in one of the more bizarre moments of his traditional year-end press conference on Thursday.
Putin typically holds a multi-hour event with regime-friendly media before the end of every year to advance his regime’s propaganda and allow the leader to define Russia’s political narratives for the upcoming year. Putin’s record currently stands at nearly five hours, but Thursday’s event lasted only a little more than four.
Towards the end of the press conference, Putin took a question from an unnamed “student in St. Petersburg,” who appeared onscreen as Vladimir Putin. Russian television aired a side-by-side of the two Putins talking to each other.
According to Russian state media, AI Putin asked real-life Putin if the rumors that he used body doubles were true — if he had any “twins” — and asked for his thoughts on the potential dangers of artificial intelligence becoming a part of daily life. On the former question, Putin denied having any doubles but appeared to say he had considered hiring body doubles for security reasons.
“You look like me; you speak using my voice. But I’ve given it some thought and decided that there should be only one person who looks like me and uses my voice,” Putin said, according to state propaganda outlet RT. “And that person should be me.”
Putin reportedly claimed that the rumors of him having a body double began as a “joke by one of our political figures” and that the deepfake talking to him was his “first doppelganger.”
On the topic of artificial intelligence generally, Putin told reporters, “It can’t be stopped. Therefore, we must take charge of it.”
“Nobody knows how it’s going to turn out. We can talk about restrictions and self-limitations, reach agreements between the leaders of various countries so that it won’t endanger humanity,” he added, stating he did not believe AI could ever replace human beings. He also said he believes Russia should become dominant in AI technology because of the unpredictable nature of its development.
According to the Russian news agency Tass, Putin openly stated in 2020 that he had considered hiring body doubles to protect himself from potential assassins. He claimed, however, that he never followed through on the idea. RT claimed that Western news outlets had, for years, reported on rumors of the use of body doubles, and the Kremlin had consistently denied them.
The press conference ended on a similar note of Putin talking to himself: a question from a reporter asking him what he would tell himself if he could go back in time to the year 2000. Russian media claimed that Putin said he would have warned his younger self not to indulge “excessive naivety and credulity in relations with our so-called partners” and, more optimistically, advised, “One must believe in the great Russian people. This faith is the key to the success of Russia’s revival and development.”
The rest of Putin’s press conference touched on a variety of topics of international significance, from Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine — which Putin defended and vowed not to end until Moscow finishes its “denazification” of the country — to Israel’s self-defense operations in Gaza against the jihadist terror group Hamas, which he compared unfavorably to his invasion of Ukraine. Russia, which received a Hamas delegation shortly after the October 7 atrocities and has used its position at the United Nations to defend Hamas’s interests, opposed the anti-Hamas operations in Gaza, Putin said. The situation there, he continued, was a “catastrophe” and not comparable to his operation in Ukraine.
“Let’s see what is happening in the special military operation and in the Gaza Strip; everyone can see the difference,” Putin claimed.
“Nothing like that is happening in Ukraine when we compare it to the Gaza Strip. There are thousands of women and children, that the Secretary General of the U.N. has said that today, the Gaza strip is the biggest cemetery of children in the world,” he added.
Putin also enthusiastically applauded Islamist Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has openly and repeatedly denied that Hamas is a terrorist organization, for his alleged “leadership” on the Gaza issue.
“I would like to note the significant, leading role of Turkish President Erdogan in the issue of restoring the situation in Gaza,” Putin said, according to a translation by the Russian news agency Tass. “He is certainly one of the leaders of the international community who is paying attention to this tragedy and doing everything to change the situation for the better, to create conditions for long-term peace.”
“God bless him,” Putin added.
Conversely, Putin also appeared to criticize his Argentine counterpart, newly inaugurated President Javier Milei, who he said was subjecting his country to “a significant loss of sovereignty” if he completed his campaign promise of instituting the U.S. dollar as an official national currency.