If there’s one thing our generation has mastered, it’s finding ways to appear engaged without actually exerting effort. Enter Pickle AI, a new tool that lets an AI-generated version of you sit in on video calls so you don’t have to.
Well, not entirely—you still have to listen and respond, but instead of subjecting your coworkers to the reality of your unbrushed hair and dead-eyed stare, your AI twin will appear on screen lip-syncing to your words in real time. It’s the ultimate “I’m here but I’m not really here” solution for those days when the only thing standing between you and professionalism is a refusal to put on real clothes.
Setting it up is simple: record a five-minute video of yourself, upload it to Pickle AI, and let the software study your face like a robot doppelgänger-in-training. A few days later, your digital twin is ready to nod along in meetings while you sip coffee off-screen. It works with Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet, meaning no matter where your pointless check-ins take place, your AI persona can show up and pretend to care.
Of course, this begs the question—if we’re outsourcing appearing attentive, are we just admitting that most meetings don’t require our actual presence? Maybe instead of perfecting AI lip-syncing, we should be working on a world where fewer video calls are necessary in the first place. But until then, at least your Pickle will look well-rested.
