Season 17 of America’s Got Talent is officially down to the wire, as the competition is geared up to crown a new winner Wednesday (Sept. 14). As such, Metaphysic — the AI performance duo consisting of Chris Ume and Tom Graham — kicked things up a notch on Tuesday night (Sept. 13) with a deepfake Elvis Presley performance that featured the judges.
The impressive technological performance featured Elvis tribute singer Emilio Santoro taking the stage in his best Elvis gear: an unbuttoned black shirt and golden suit jacket decked out in rhinestones fit for the King of Rock n’ Roll. Backup singers Makayla Phillips (AGT season 13 semi-finalist) and Las Vegas entertainer Lorena Peril assisted Santoro as Elvis for their renditions of “You’re the Devil In Disguise” and “Hound Dog,” but with a twist — judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Sofia Vergara were featured in the performance.
Halfway through “You’re the Devil in Disguise,” Cowell — deepfaked by Daniel Emmett — did a duet with Elvis, with avatars of Klum and Vergara (Phillips and Peril) dancing and providing the background vocals for the performance. The judges were delighted to see their likenesses incorporated.
“You guys are absolutely amazing. This is my absolute favorite act so far of the night. So good!” Klum told the performers after their set. Cowell mirrored his fellow judge’s enthusiasm and said, “This, in my opinion, is probably the most incredible original act we’ve ever had in any final.”
After delivering a show-stopping performance for the finals, Metaphysic shared its gratitude. “What an absolute honor to have brought back The King, Elvis Presley, to sing once again,” the duo wrote via Instagram. In a separate post, the co-founders added, “We’re feeling very thankful that we were able to show so many of you the power of our super advanced AI tech tonight, and the tremendous joy it brings.”
Watch Metaphysic’s performance in full below.