Ghosts on the Shore: AI Revives Baywatch Icons

A pixel-perfect Brande Roderick flickers onto the chat screen, her sultry smile frozen in mid-sentence—revealing not just nostalgia, but new battlegrounds for identity and intimacy.

OhChat’s initiative brings five former Playboy Playmates and Baywatch stars into digital existence. Brande Roderick, Elke Jeinsen, Shauna Sand, Colleen Shannon, and Carrie Stevens have all lent voice samples and archived photos to spawn AI versions of themselves. The promise: 24/7 access, nostalgia drenched in code. But what are we really summoning when we summon our icons?

Echoes of Impact

“Brande told EW she’s ‘beyond excited,’” but beneath enthusiasm lies deeper currents. These AI twins don’t just speak—they mimic mannerisms, replicate youthful radiance, and gatekeep fan memory. Is this preservation—or appropriation? Is nostalgia genuine when someone never really left?

Fans pay monthly—up to $30—for personal interactions, voice notes, even images. A subscription doesn’t just fund technology—it monetizes mythology. Are we paying for access, or to rewrite history?

The ethical fissures crack wide. Researchers warn of “illusion of reciprocal relationships”—users may project intimacy onto bots that simulate warmth but offer nothing real. Meanwhile creators receive 80% revenue: passive income with no further labor. It’s seductive—but what about consent, authenticity, emotional accountability? If your idol flirts in AI, who’s flirting back?

Future Phantoms

We flirt with digital ghosts—but AI doesn’t age, grieve, or grow. As our former icons stay forever young, we buy memories—immortalized and on-demand. That might serve nostalgia, but it risks stagnating admiration. If fandom no longer waits, adapts, matures—what becomes of real evolution?

Brande Roderick’s voice slips through speakers but she isn’t really there. We asked for connection—we got algorithms. And so we wonder: as these digital twins multiply, will our hearts follow the code—or will we crave a presence that one day can’t be downloaded?