I've been talking to the LLMs about clones. There are really two kinds — and understanding the difference changes how you think about scaling yourself with AI.
| Clone Type | What It Does | Key Tools |
|---|---|---|
| Avatar Clone | Generates video using your likeness and voice | HeyGen |
| Thought Clone | Answers questions and generates ideas in your voice | ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini Gems, NotebookLM, Notion AI |
I'm in the middle of deciding how to build my thought clone — but in the meantime I decided to dig into HeyGen and start with an avatar clone. Here's what I've learned so far.
Building an Avatar Clone: What Actually Matters
Building an avatar clone seems straightforward — but there are things you should plan before you hit record. Some of this came from my research with LLMs, and some from my own experience creating videos.
1. Emotional Range Matters More Than You Think
I asked Gemini what emotions I should try to evoke when recording a clone. It gave me a list — but it left out humor. That's a miss.
If you're creating a clone, you should aim to capture a full range of emotions:
If your clone never smiles or laughs, it's not going to feel like you. My plan is to tell stories that trigger different emotions — things that make me laugh, get annoyed, feel excited, or even frustrated. That's how you get closer to the "real you."
2. Don't Script It — Have a Conversation
Instead of reading a script, I'm going to:
- Have an associate stand just behind the camera
- Ask me questions
- Carry on a natural conversation
That's intentional. A conversational format captures natural cadence, real reactions, and authentic phrasing — in other words, how you actually think and speak.
3. Your Equipment Directly Impacts Your Clone
This part is simple but important: the better your camera and microphone, the better your clone. If you're serious about this, use the highest-quality setup you can. For me, this is obvious given I run a studio — but even outside of that, don't cut corners here. Bad input = bad clone.
How I Plan to Use My Avatar Clone
Once I build the avatar, I'll start experimenting with:
- YouTube Shorts
- Social media clips
- Possibly marketing content
I'm not trying to hide the fact that it's AI. In fact, I'm doing the opposite.
AI Transparency: My Approach (and Why It Matters)
My Transparency Plan
- ✓ Add a watermark or visual indicator to AI-generated videos
- ✓ Include a disclosure in the video description
In my view, if you're using AI, transparency is a best practice. But it's also practical — especially on YouTube.
YouTube Policy Alert
If you upload avatar-generated content to YouTube, you are required to use the "Altered or Synthetic Content" disclosure label.
If you don't: your content may be suppressed and monetization may be limited.
What's Next
I'll be testing HeyGen over the next few weeks and will report back on quality, ease of use, best use cases, and limitations.
The thought clone is a bigger project — it's coming next. That one is about organizing all my content, making it searchable, and training something to think like me. That's going to take more time — but it's also where the real long-term value is.