Let’s start with the basics. What is Alva INC?
– Alva INC is a talent AI company. We’ve created an infrastructure for talent in an AI-powered future, where we create, license, and protect digital twins of real, established talent. When I say talent, I mean everything from fashion models to actors, artists, and athletes. Anyone who is their own brand and wants to create a digital twin that they own, and that we help protect.
What led you to build this company?
– I started Alva because I saw a fundamental shift happening in how content is created. With AI, it suddenly became possible to replicate people at scale – but there was no clear structure for ownership, control, or rights. My career has always been at the intersection of talent and business, so I saw the gap: brands need to scale content, but talent needs to protect their rights. Alva solves both – enabling scalable AI content while ensuring talent remains in full control of their digital identity.
Why is it important to connect this technology to real human beings?
– That’s the core of everything we do. There is a reason why brands choose to work with real talent, they have their own identity, their own audience, and their own brand. That value doesn’t disappear just because new technology emerges, so what we’re building is a system where you can use these new tools but still involve real people in a way that makes sense for everyone involved.
Why do we need digital twins at all?
– If you look at what happens when brands create digital twins of products early in the value chain, it transforms a lot. It changes logistics, it enables more flexible workflows, and allows for more on-demand content production. But if you have a digital twin of a product, you also need a digital twin of talent to create a fully digital workflow. Those benefits are not going away, the technology will continue to improve, and the key is to learn to involve people in that process so that everyone benefits.
How do you position Alva in relation to synthetic avatars and AI-generated models?
– We see ourselves as an alternative. There is a lot of content today based on synthetic avatars without clear ownership or licensing, which creates both legal, ethical and creative challenges. Our view is that real talent runs deep, and if you build on real talent with proper ownership and consent, you create something that has much more long-term commercial value.
Ownership and control are central to your model. How does that work in practice?
– When we create a digital twin, the ownership remains with the talent or the IP holder, and we only license it on a project-by-project basis with full approval. That means the talent can say yes or no to every opportunity. The role of agents and managers is still to protect and build the brand of that talent, and that doesn’t change, it becomes even more important.
How has the talent and agency community reacted to this?
– There has definitely been fear, with many asking what happens to their role and how they fit into this new landscape. But now, they are excited as we’re together providing a secure solution where everyone actually benefits. We approach it as a complementary production method rather than a replacement. If you look at it from another perspective, it can expand opportunities, for example for talents who cannot travel due to visa restrictions or scheduling constraints, allowing them to participate in projects they otherwise couldn’t.
Where do you see the most relevant use cases today?
– From a brand perspective, e-commerce is an obvious one. Content demands from brands is consistently increasing, both in terms of scale and local relevance, which is very difficult with traditional production alone. If done correctly, with the right creatives involved and in a secure way, this enables much more flexible and scalable content production.
What are the opportunities that are less obvious?
– If the digital twin is a true extension of the person, it opens up new ways of working. An athlete can focus on their career while still participating in commercial opportunities, and a model can avoid constant travel while still being present in multiple markets at the same time. But for this to work, the quality needs to be high enough and it needs to feel like a true extension of the individual.
There is a concern that this could concentrate visibility around already established faces. How do you respond to that?
– It’s a valid question, but many brands still want to work with real people, that adds value to their brand, both in front of and behind the camera. Same as in the traditional world, there will always be new talents discovered. That won’t change. If anything, this will give talents more time to build their own brand and expand into new areas, creating more opportunities depending on how it’s used.
Looking ahead, what needs to happen for this to work at scale?
– Legislation needs to evolve, and ownership and control need to be clearly defined. If we can create an ecosystem where talent, agents, brands, and creatives all benefit, then this can become a very powerful production method.
And where do you see Alva in a few years?
– In a few years, Alva will be the foundational infrastructure for “Digital Ownership”. We see Alva as the neutral, universal layer that bridges the gap between physical reality and digital existence – where ownership, ethics and protection is at the center. Talents can build and extend their brands, agents continue to represent them, brands produce better content, and creatives remain central to the process.
