[A new example of the emotionally and ethically fraught notion of creating artificially intelligent digital versions of people who have died is in the news. This story from People is widely quoted in other coverage; see the original version for four more images. For more about Suzanne Somers, known for roles in the situation comedies “Three’s Company” and “Step by Step” and a series of health books, see an October 2023 story in Variety. –Matthew]

[Image: Alan Hamel and Suzanne Somers. Credit: Courtesy of Alan Hamel]

Alan Hamel Creates AI Clone of Late Wife Suzanne Somers 2 Years After Her Death: ‘You Can’t Tell the Difference’ (Exclusive)

Suzanne Somers shared a unique bond with not just family and friends, but her fans as well

By Angela Andaloro
October 21, 2025

Alan Hamel is doing everything he can to keep Suzanne Somers‘ memory alive.

Two years after the unforgettable actress’ death at 76, her husband and partner of 55 years, Hamel, has started putting plans into action that the two had discussed for decades, he tells PEOPLE.

“Obviously, Suzanne was greatly loved, not only by her family, but by millions of people. One of the projects that we have coming up is a really interesting project, the Suzanne AI Twin,” Hamel shares.

Hamel shared a demo of the AI at a conference earlier this year. To Hamel, the project is “perfect.”

“It was Suzanne. And I asked her a few questions and she answered them, and it blew me and everybody else away,” he says. “When you look at the finished one next to the real Suzanne, you can’t tell the difference. It’s amazing. And I mean, I’ve been with Suzanne for 55 years, so I know what her face looks like, and when I just look at the two of them side by side, I really can’t tell which one is the real and which one is the AI.”

To get the likeness and speech just right, the AI has been trained with “all of Suzanne’s 27 books and a lot of interviews that she has done, hundreds of interviews, so that she’s really ready to be able to be asked any question at all and be able to answer it, because the answer will be within her.”

While AI is fairly new to most, Hamel revealed this had been an ongoing conversation between himself and Somers since the 1980s, when Ray Kurzweil first explained the concept to them.

“We have been friends with Ray Kurzweil. Bill Gates described Ray Kurzweil as the smartest man on the planet, which he is. And he became our friend 30-some years ago and we talked about this. We knew it was coming. It took decades to happen, but he knew it was going to happen, and he shared that information with us,” Hamel explains.

“So it was Suzanne’s idea. And she said, “I think we should do that. She said, I think it’ll be very interesting and we’ll provide a service to my fans and to people who have been reading my books who really want and need information about their health.” She said, ‘Let’s do it.’ So that’s the reason we did it. And so I love being able to fulfill her wish.”

Recalling his first experience with the Somers’ AI, Hamel says, “The first time I spoke to Suzanne AI, for the first two or three minutes, it was a little strange. But after that, I forgot about the fact that I was talking to a robot and asking her questions and getting answers, and it happens that fast for me, getting used to the whole idea.”

Hamel knew Somers’ wishes, but was concerned their family might not be on board with the project.

“I feel really good about being able to deliver what Suzanne wanted and doing so that it’ll be something that basically will, should, go on for generations. I think our family loves the idea, really loves the idea. We’ve talked about it a lot. And they said, ‘We’re going to get to the point where it’s not going to seem weird, and it’ll just be another way to communicate with people we cared about.’ I’m glad to hear that from my family because I wasn’t sure how they would take it, but they’re all young and very successful, and they thought this would be a great tribute to Suzanne herself.”

Still, Hamel is aware that not everyone is at the point of accepting AI, sharing an idea he shared with the Kennedy Center committee, of which he is a part.

“I was appointed to the committee at the Kennedy Center to choose the honorees for this year, and I suggested Suzanne Somers, and they said, ‘Yeah, but we only do this for people who were alive,’” he shares.

“I said, ‘I know that. I said, but Suzanne AI is the future and the future is now. And wouldn’t it be really interesting to have her at the Kennedy Center to accept being honored?’ And I couldn’t get them to go for it, unfortunately. I thought it would be really a great addition and it would be a wonderful tune in. And I thought the audience would love seeing her there, but I just couldn’t push it over the finish line.”

Hamel thinks the AI will hold special value for Somers’ fans, “who miss her terribly.”

“Once I’m satisfied that we have everything, then we’ll put her on SuzanneSomers.com and we’ll invite all her fans and all our customers to come and talk to her. They can come and just hang out with her. They can ask her any questions they want. She’ll be available 24/7, and I think it’ll be really wonderful,” he says.

“There’ll be people who will ask her about their health issues, and Suzanne will be able to answer them. Not Suzanne’s version of the answer, but it’ll go directly to the doctor she interviewed for that very issue, so it’ll be coming from an MD,” he explains.

“Everything that Suzanne wrote in her books, because most of them were interviews with doctors, was cleared by Life Extension, which is a large health company that employs a lot of doctors and scientists. So every word of the interview and the claims that were being made were checked by them so that there’d be no issues, because the last thing we wanted was to have any issues about providing interviews about people’s health issues that were incorrect, even one word incorrect.”