Real life Putin met AI Putin, but can you tell which one is the real Putin?

Real-life Russian president on the left meeting his ‘double’ on the right

This is the moment a fake Vladimir Putin clashed with the real Vladimir Putin in front of millions of people – yes, you read this right.

Russia’s president appeared briefly lost for words when an AI-generated version of himself confronted him during his end-of-year news conference in Moscow.

A video shows the ‘double’ dressed in a light-blue shirt and a dark blazer next to the war leader who donned a red tie, making it difficult to judge who is who.

Surely, this will not help the rumours that Putin uses body doubles in public amid his declining health, and artificial intelligence to fake his presence at meetings.

‘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.

‘Also: How do you view the dangers that artificial intelligence and neural networks bring into our lives?’

This prompted a rare hesitation from Putin, already in his fourth hour of taking questions at the marathon event.

‘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,’ he said.

Putin, left, after announcing hi will run for president yet again (Picture: AP)

‘Only one person should look like myself and talk in my voice – that person is going to be me. By the way, this is my first double.’

It was one of the most bizarre moments in a conference held by a world leader in recent times.

Putin, who has held power for nearly 24 years and is referred to as the father of the nation, was greeted with applause as he arrived in the hall.

He did not hold his traditional news conference last year after his military failed to take Kyiv and as the Ukrainian army retook territory in the east and south.

In addition to the freak encounter with his ‘double’, Putin also faced a barrage of questions that were implicitly critical of him as a president and the impact of his invasion of Ukraine.

All were ignored, in addition to texts flickering across the screen in the room that urged him to let someone younger run for office in the upcoming election.

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