Custom AI Model for Your Brand: The Process

By SSIPPI · Published 6 October 2026 · Updated 6 October 2026

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A custom AI model is a digital face designed for one brand alone. The process has four stages: a brief that defines the brand and character, face design with options you refine, an identity set that keeps the face consistent across images, and written rights that say who owns what and how the face may be used.

AI-generated image of digital model Astrid, front view
AI-generated image of digital model Astrid, three-quarter view
AI-generated image of digital model Astrid, profile view

Why would a brand want a custom AI model?

A roster model can be shared across clients, with category exclusivity available on request. A custom model is different: nobody else will ever use it. For a brand that wants a recognisable face to carry its identity for years, that is the point.

It also gives freedom in the design. The face, the age range, the mood and the character can be shaped around the brand rather than chosen from what exists.

What happens in the brief stage?

You describe the brand, the audience and the character you imagine. How should this person feel: warm, severe, playful, remote? Which markets will see them? Which products do they sell?

The brief also covers what the face should not resemble. We do not create the likeness of a real person without that person’s documented consent.

How is the face designed?

We present a small set of options and refine them with you. Feedback is concrete: more angular, softer, older, a different hairline. Each round narrows the choice until one face is approved.

This is the creative core of the project, and it is directed by people. The tools generate possibilities; art direction decides what is right for the brand.

What is an identity set?

An identity set is a reference library for the approved face: angles, expressions, lighting conditions, body proportions and styling notes. It is what keeps the face the same in every future image.

Without it, a generated face drifts from picture to picture. With it, a brand can run campaigns for years and the model still reads as one person.

Who owns a custom AI model?

Ownership and usage terms for a custom model are agreed in writing before work starts. The agreement states who holds the identity set, how the face may be used, whether it can be licensed to others and what happens at the end of the relationship.

Reading this agreement carefully is the single most useful thing a brand can do before commissioning a custom face.

Frequently asked questions

How is a custom model different from licensing a roster model?

A roster model is licensed for a term, territory and media, and may be used by other clients in other categories. A custom model is designed for one brand and not offered to anyone else.

Can a custom model look like a real person?

No. We do not create the likeness of a real person without documented consent from that person.

Related

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