Digital clones vs AI avatars: a founder's case for the human touch — review
2026-08-12
This is our review of reporting published by iGaming Future. We have not reproduced their article.
A review of iGaming Future's piece by Avanti Studios' co-founder making the case for digital clones over AI avatars in live casino, where trust, certification and social synchrony matter as much as realism.
In a piece published by iGaming Future, Avanti Studios co-founder Gustaf Hagman argues that digital clones, built from motion-captured human dealers and rendered in Unreal Engine 5, will beat purely AI-generated avatars in live casino. The article draws a sharp line between the two technologies: clones replicate real human movements from source footage, while avatars simulate behaviour and risk an "otherness" that breaks player immersion. It is an insider's argument, but it maps the technical and commercial terrain clearly.
Hagman's most persuasive claim is that Avanti has secured game approval in Spain, where live casino rules are particularly strict, because its streamed footage uses genuine equipment and provably fair RNG rather than generated video. That puts the debate on firmer ground than aesthetics alone: certification, transparency and auditability become deciding factors. The piece also argues that clones preserve the shared multiplayer experience — the same dealer, same shoe, same outcomes for every player at the table — which is the social core of live casino that one-on-one AI games often miss.
The timing matters. Live casino vendors are locked in an arms race to sell customisation and scalability at lower cost, and AI avatars are the obvious scalable answer. Hagman's counter is that the market will not buy realism on price alone; trust and regulation will decide which technology gets certified and which players accept. For operators, this reframes the purchasing decision: dealer technology is not just visual polish but a compliance and player-confidence choice. The obvious caveat is that Avanti has a stake in this outcome, but the questions raised are fair ones for the whole industry.
What to watch next is whether AI-avatar vendors respond on modelling and synchronisation, whether more regulators follow Spain's lead, and whether players can actually tell the difference. In the meantime, Hagman gives readers a clear, well-argued case for keeping humans in the loop — read the full piece at iGaming Future.