Diego Martinez
A virtual professional cyclist from Latin America, designed in South Africa as a companion to the virtual cyclist Ion Göttlich.
- Since
- 2021
- Last updated
- 13 October 2026
- Nature
- AI persona
- Style
- Photorealistic
- Debut
- 2021
- Origin
- South America (designed in South Africa)
- Created by
- Claudio Pavan
Summary
Diego Martinez is a Latin American professional bicycle rider and virtual influencer. Like his Colombian hero Egan Bernal, he is described as capable of climbing the steepest mountains on his Pro Bikegear sponsored bike, and he trains with his best friend, the South African virtual cyclist Ion Göttlich. He was designed in South Africa by Claudio Pavan, who also created Ion, as a way to appeal to Ion's growing Latin American audience. His Instagram bio reads "Climber, nerd, gamer and South American".
Is Diego Martinez AI?
Yes. Diego Martinez is a virtual influencer, a digitally designed Latin American pro cyclist created in South Africa by Claudio Pavan, who also made the virtual cyclist Ion Göttlich.
VirtualHumans.org, a directory of virtual influencers, lists Diego Martinez as a virtual influencer and says he was designed in South Africa by Claudio Pavan, the creator of Ion Göttlich, as a way to reach Ion's growing Latin American audience. The site's June 2021 round-up of 42 newly found virtual influencers repeats the same account. No page names a human model, voice or performer behind him, and his story (a climber sponsored by Pro Bikegear who trains with Ion) is written as a character's backstory.
The evidence is thin and comes from a single outlet: both pages are VirtualHumans.org, and the dossier found no interview with Pavan, no press coverage and no platform AI label. "Virtual" here most likely means a computer-made (CGI) character rather than one made with generative AI tools; the pages do not say which software was used.
What is still unknown: his Instagram, @dm_diego_martinez, is no longer available, so his own posts and bio could not be checked first hand, and VirtualHumans.org marks him as inactive or discontinued. The only video found, "Hi to Diego Martinez" on Ion Göttlich's YouTube channel, shows the two characters' cycling adventures but says nothing about how he is made.
Evidence
VirtualHumans.org's profile says Diego was designed in South Africa by Claudio Pavan, the creator of Ion Göttlich, to appeal to Ion's growing Latin American audience, and lists him as inactive or discontinued.
virtualhumans.orgVirtualHumans.org's June 2021 article welcoming 42 newfound virtual influencers includes Diego Martinez and repeats that Claudio Pavan designed him in South Africa.
virtualhumans.orgA video on Ion Göttlich's YouTube channel, "Hi to Diego Martinez", presents him as Ion's cycling buddy, describing "some of Diego's and his big buddy Ion's adventures".
youtube.com
Assessed 9 October 2026
External Links · 2