NBA All-Star and Champion Metta World Peace’s 37 Partners Launches Perpetual Celebrity Commerce with an AI-Powered Digital Likeness for Live Commerce and Fan Engagement

Key Terms

ai-powered digital likenesses technical

AI-powered digital likenesses are computer-generated images, voices or animated avatars that mimic a real or imagined person using artificial intelligence, like a lifelike actor created from data instead of filmed footage. Investors care because they can cut costs, create new revenue streams and scale marketing, but also bring risks around copyright, privacy, reputation and regulation—think of them as virtual spokespeople that can boost reach but may create legal or trust problems.

deepfakes technical

Deepfakes are audio, video or image content created or altered by artificial intelligence to make people appear to say, do, or be somewhere they did not. They matter to investors because a convincing fake can trigger sudden market moves, enable fraud, manipulate sentiment, or harm a company’s reputation—similar to a counterfeit document or forged signature sparking real financial consequences and regulatory scrutiny.

live commerce technical

Live commerce is the sale of products or services through real-time video streams where hosts demonstrate items, answer viewer questions, and provide direct purchase links—think of a televised shopping channel combined with social media interactivity. It matters to investors because it can boost sales, shorten the path from discovery to purchase, and create higher engagement and data on customer preferences; that can translate into faster revenue growth, stronger margins, and clearer signals about which products will scale.

First public deployment brings an authorized, rights-first model for live commerce and fan engagement to Shopee, one of Southeast Asia’s most active mobile shopping markets

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- 37 Partners, a revenue-generating talent and IP venture platform co-founded in 2025 by NBA All-Star and Champion Metta World Peace, today announced the first public launch of Perpetual Celebrity Commerce (PCC), a platform that enables professional talent to deploy officially licensed AI-powered digital likenesses for live commerce and fan engagement across global markets. Starting today, Metta’s licensed digital likeness will go live on Shopee, one of Southeast Asia’s largest marketplace platforms (NYSE: SE), hosting livestream commerce sessions and interacting with fans in real time, with live multilingual translation and regional customization. Shopee held a 52% share of Southeast Asia’s e-commerce market in 2024.

This emergence of deepfakes and AI-generated content has irrevocably altered the media environment, creating a need for authenticated, sustainable, and controlled commercial infrastructure within the category of digital celebrity. The platform addresses this by establishing a continuous, authenticated, and verifiable digital presence for public figures, ensuring that their image, voice, and likeness can be monetized ethically and securely, while safeguarding brand value against the pervasive threat of unauthorized and indistinguishable synthetic recreations.

The platform's genesis was inspired by Metta’s direct experience cultivating a global brand in Asia, coupled with extensive conversations with professionals across various sectors regarding the constraints of traditional, geographically-bound engagement. It addresses a fundamental deficit within the talent ecosystem: demand for world-class talent is unambiguously global, while the attention spans of both the talent and their audience are increasingly abbreviated and segmented. Opportunities are lost because human schedules, international logistics, and differences in languages and time zones collectively impede consistent, real-time presence and interaction.

Engineered to overcome these issues, PCC establishes a persistent, borderless virtual presence for high-profile individuals. Initially, the focus is on athletes, celebrities, and musicians whose professional value is amplified by a global, frequently asynchronous audience base. Metta serves as the inaugural talent to publicly launch and utilize the platform, functioning as a marquee case study of its core capabilities. Additional high-profile personalities across sports and entertainment will be announced in the coming months.

37 Partners prioritizes talent control, beginning with explicit authorization that defines the scope of digital likeness use. This ensures celebrities maintain authority over their name, image, and voice. Enforcement is integrated directly into the product. The company actively monitors for and takes action against unauthorized uses of its represented talent’s likenesses.

The deployment of Metta is the sole officially licensed and authorized digital representation of Metta World Peace for this specific live commerce application on Shopee. More broadly, Perpetual Celebrity Commerce allows professional talent to use licensed digital likenesses across different platforms and markets. Talent retains approval over what their digital likeness can and cannot do, the categories it can participate in, and the content it avoids, ensuring a consistent and legally sound experience across campaigns, markets, and partners.

“In my career, I have seen how global demand can be real while access is still limited by bandwidth, time zones, and travel,” said Metta World Peace, Co-Founder and Chairman of 37 Partners. “This is a way to show up with consent, with control, and with accountability, and to build a lasting relationship with fans in markets where live commerce is already how people discover and buy.”

Commercially, 37 Partners operates on a licensing and revenue-share model designed so talent participates directly in outcomes generated through live sessions, exclusive content, and related brand activations. This tailored approach ensures that all commercial activities are strategically aligned with the talent's personal brand equity and maximize revenue potential while maintaining brand integrity across the entire partner ecosystem.

“As unauthorized use of voices and likenesses accelerates, the dividing line becomes whether a system can scale with safeguards and enforcement,” said Matthew Heller, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of 37 Partners. “Perpetual Celebrity Commerce is built so talent authorizes the use, dictates the terms, and keeps control, while simultaneously providing brands and platforms with a consistent, market-by-market activation capability. Metta represents our initial public launch, and we are preparing to announce additional professional talent as our roster expands."

37 Partners will expand Perpetual Celebrity Commerce across additional markets and platforms, bringing more licensed digital likeness deployments online across athletes, celebrities, and musicians throughout 2026.

About 37 Partners

37 Partners is a talent and IP venture platform co-founded by Metta World Peace and Matthew Heller that builds infrastructure for Western athletes and celebrities to operate in Asia’s fan and commerce ecosystems while retaining ownership of their IP and long-term value. In its first year, 37 Partners has operated official China platforms for Western talent, executed multi-city activations, served as China social media marketing partner for both the World Football Summit and the Cristiano Ronaldo’s CR7 LIFE museum in Hong Kong, launched Metta World Peace’s official basketball camp in China, executed a China tour with streetball legend Larry Williams, and supported talent participation in the Yao Foundation Charity Game. The company is revenue-generating, and its Perpetual Celebrity Commerce product extends that operating foundation into licensed AI-powered digital likeness deployments for live commerce and fan engagement, including monitoring and pursuit of unauthorized uses on behalf of talent. For more information, visit 37partners.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260304127250/en/

Media Contact:

Patrick Schmidt

37partners@consortpartners.com

Source: 37 Partners