Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared briefly lost for words on December 14 when confronted with an AI-generated version of himself.

The “double” was one of dozens of callers from around the country who were shown asking questions to Putin via video link during his annual news conference.

“Vladimir Vladimirovich, hello, I am a student at St Petersburg State University. I want to ask, is it true you have a lot of doubles?” the double asked, prompting laughter among the audience in the hall with Putin in Moscow.

“And also: How do you view the dangers that artificial intelligence and neural networks bring into our lives?”

In his fourth hour of taking questions, the question prompted a rare hesitation from Putin.

He replied: “I see you may resemble me and speak with my voice. But I have thought about it and decided that only one person must be like me and speak with my voice, and that will be me.”

There has been recurrent speculation, particularly in Western media, that Putin has one or more body doubles to cover for him in some public appearances because of alleged health problems. The Kremlin had denied that and said the president’s health is excellent.

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