Posted 4:54 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022
"Iconic and Bionic"--Analysis Essay
Is it real, or is it fake? That person behind the screen wearing clothing from the latest brands, traveling to the exclusive exotic locations, or encouraging your participation in the latest cultural activism may not be a real person, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to discern what is reality and what is not. In 2018, Lil Miquela, while not human, was nominated as one of Time’s 25 most influential people on the internet (“25”, par. 24). Formally, Lil Miquela is an artificially intelligent influencer, more commonly known as an AI influencer. Lil Miquela was created in 2016 and is one of the first AI influencers to appear on the internet (Tiffany, par. 2). After her creation, she quickly gained popularity. Today, she has more than seven million followers on various social media platforms, including Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Youtube (da Silva Olivera and Chimenti, par. 2). Like a traditional social media influencer, Lil Miquela makes profits through sponsorships from brands. In the past, Lil Miquela has worked with brands such as Prada, Balenciaga, and Kenzo (Thomas and Fowler, par. 3). AI influencers are becoming more relevant and popular as there are advancements in technology and the world becomes increasingly more digital. However, with the rise in popularity of AI influencers, many have raised concerns about what effect these computer-generated imagery (CGI) avatars have on social media users. As a consumer of social media content, it is essential to understand how the creation of AI influencers blurs the line of reality. AI opens Pandora's box of advertisers' ability to generate content quickly using algorithms, continuously engaging their audiences. But AI also poses potential ethical issues as nearly infallible computer-generated “people'' replace traditional human influencers.
To understand what the term AI influencer means, it will be broken into two parts. First, Thomas and Fowler state that “artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the broad idea that computers, through the use of software and algorithms, can think and perform tasks like humans” (par. 1). Second is the word influencer, which is formally defined as a person who is able to generate interest in something (such as a consumer product) by posting about it on social media (“Influencer,” def. 2). With the two parts merged, an AI influencer can be loosely defined as a digitally created artificial human who is associated with internet fame and uses software and algorithms to perform tasks like humans (Thomas and Fowler, par. 5).
When people first lay their eyes on AI influencers, most people ask, what are they? To be completely honest, that is a loaded question. Each AI influencer is an active identity with a unique visual aesthetic, personality, and history that develops and changes over time. Like regular influencers, they possess human appearances and behaviors. Sounds a lot like a human, right? Not quite.
Unlike humans, they do not use brainpower to think and reason. Instead, they use algorithms, a specific procedure for solving a well-defined computational problem, programmed by their creators and machine learning, the process of analyzing vast amounts of data to learn to complete tasks, think, and reason like humans (Tucker and Belford, par. 23). Additionally, these virtual beings are programmed with an array of unique characteristics, unlike humans who are born with them. For example, Lil Miquela is a 19-year-old Brazilian and Spanish young woman famously known for always sporting a space bun hairstyle. In addition to being an influencer, she is also a model, singer, and songwriter. All these characteristics were written by her original creators, Trevor McFedries and Sara Decou, from the Los Angeles tech start-up Brud (Robinson, par. 5). However, what should be noted is that Lil Miquela and the majority of all AI influencers are not yet able to act fully autonomously from their creators since the technology is not yet completely developed. Today, the content that is created by AI influencers is still being reviewed and edited by humans before it is posted. In other words, because these virtual beings are still reliant on human interference to function, it can be deduced that they do not have minds separate from their creators—at least not yet. In the future, these virtual influencers will begin fully utilizing machine learning technology to be able to create content without the need for human supervision, making them fully self-automated.
What’s surprising is that virtual intelligence is not new to social media and the internet. In fact, 30% of user-generated content on the social media platform Twitter is already being created by robots posing as humans using artificial intelligence technology (Thomas and Fowler, par. 2). With that being said, we should consider the question: what are the benefits of utilizing artificial intelligence for social media purposes? Because AI influencers use algorithms and machine learning to create content instead of human brainpower, they can create content at a significantly faster rate than a traditional human influencer. Specifically, AI influencers have the ability to be more interactive with their audience by posting automated responses, making them appear more conversational. Emily Groom, the creator of internet-famous AI influencer Lil Wavi, states, “When thinking about the future, it is clear that virtual influencers will play a fundamental role within brands due to their affordability and fast turnaround, not forgetting the limitless freedom enabled to sculpt new identities” (Baklanov, par. 19). Due to their increased efficiency, AI influencers generally cost companies less to hire for advertisements on their social media pages than their human counterparts which is attractive for companies looking to hire an influencer (Thomas and Fowler, par. 3). In addition to decreased costs, virtual influencers reach more people on social media than traditional influencers. According to Hype Auditor, a top influencer marketing data collection company, AI influencers have engagement rates that are three times higher than the rates of traditional influencers (Baklanov, par. 7). With costs significantly lower and engagement rates significantly higher, companies are eager to begin using AI influencers in replacement of traditional human-based brand management.
Virtual influencers are also appealing to companies because they are easily managed. Their human counterparts have individual thoughts and ideas, making them largely unpredictable and harder to control. Throughout the history of social media, there is a long list of human influencers who have committed a transgression and, because of cancel culture, have been publicly rejected and boycotted by their audience, essentially ending their influencing career. What is important to note, however, is that when an influencer commits a transgression, it also negatively affects the image of the brands affiliated, resulting in a negative impact on the overall health of those brands.
However, whether cancel culture is believed to be ethical or not, it is here to stay. Therefore, the influencer marketing industry needs to find a way to mitigate the public relations risk involved when partnering with influencers. The industry has deemed AI influencers a viable solution because they are less likely to make statements that might offend or alienate individuals. Ben Robinson, a graduate student at Sydney University, states, “Part of the appeal of virtual influencers or virtual models is that PR risk can be completely controlled given all the actions of these influencers are deliberated over from a group of people” (par. 8). Similarly, Andrew Dunst, the Vice President of Marketing and Software at top software company Sage Group says, “Everything a virtual influencer does is in a controlled setting by the people who are managing the account” (Tiffany, par. 23). Additionally, while not likely to happen, if an AI influencer were to commit a transgression and fall victim to cancel culture, brands can find and recruit a new virtual influencer faster than if they were to seek out a traditional influencer due to a higher supply of AI influencers. Companies that are looking to mitigate the PR risk of hiring influencers by hiring AI influencers are increasing exponentially. As a result, investors are rushing to invest in this new technology. It was reported that in 2019, a total of $3.6 billion was invested in AI influencer technology (Zaczkiewicz, par. 1).
While the development and implementation of AI influencers would appear near perfect in both their appearance and ability to generate consumer engagement, there is controversy surrounding their further creation and use. Made from countless perfectly placed pixels, these virtual people are quite literally programmed to be flawless. When AI influencers are spotlighted on social media to impressionable young minds, they display unrealistic and unattainable beauty standards. It’s one thing to be pressured to look like the face-tuned to perfection human influencers we already see on the internet, but what happens when the standard is raised by characters who aren’t even alive? In 2015, before the development of perfect AI influencers, the illusion of perfection was felt by 82% of women who reportedly felt the image of beauty portrayed on social media was unrealistic (Lo, par. 1). Additionally, AI influencers have a large percentage of a younger audience. In reality, about 14% of these virtual influencers’ audiences are between the ages of 13 and 17, doubled from the average 7% young audience of human influencers. For decades, researchers have studied the impact of social media on people’s perception of themselves. Social media has been shown to be the driving force in depression and anxiety among teens who report feeling they cannot compete with the portrayed idealistic expectations leading them to unrealistic harsh self-evaluation (Miller, par. 23). Controversy surrounds the development of AI technology when it intersects with humans’ ability to discern reality from an illusion. This controversy is increasingly prevalent as social media sites are being questioned and held accountable for the connection between their online content and the mental health of the consuming public. As the development of AI influencers increases, so too will the controversy of a company’s responsibility to protect impressionable young minds from the mirage an AI influencer portrays when their creation and interaction blurs the line almost indistinguishably between human and computer-generated people.
The creation of AI influencers has undoubtedly changed the face of social media, and as evidenced by the billion-dollar industry, it will continue to be developed and implemented by companies looking for ways to maximize their marketing strategy with reduced costs, employees, and risk. According to an insider in the industry, as reported by Thomas and Fowler, in the next few years, half of all content created will be developed by artificial intelligence with oversight and editing by humans (par. 5). The impact of artificial intelligence on the consumer has yet to be established. While a powerful tool in direct-to-consumer marketing, it certainly has the potential to further the disconnect of consumers who see their life through a lens, comparing it to the unattainable perfection staring back at them. Therefore, as a consumer, it is crucial to remember, as these virtual beings become more popular on the internet, to take note of what is real and what is fake to stay grounded in our own human realities.
Works Cited
Baklanov, Nick. “The Top Instagram Virtual Influencers in 2020.” Hype Auditor, 9 November 2020, https://hypeauditor.com/blog/the-top-instagram-virtual-influencers-in-2020/.
da Silva Olivera, Antonio Batista, and Paula Chimenti. ““Humanized Robots”: A Proposition of Categories to Understand Virtual Influencers.” Australasian Journal of Information Systems, vol. 25, 2021, pp. 1-27. EBSCO Information Services, https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=10&sid=666ebec7-dd18-4680-afa8-216c1377bf16%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=154626922&db=iih.
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Thomas, Veronica L., and Fowler Kendra. “Close Encounters of the AI Kind: Use of AI Influencers As Brand Endorsers.” Journal of Advertising, vol. 50, no. 1, 2021, pp. 11-25. EBSCO Information Services, https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=666ebec7-dd18-4680-afa8-216c1377bf16%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=aqh&AN=148859820.
Tiffany, Kaitlyn. “Lil Miquela and the Virtual Influencer Hype, Explained.” Vox, 3 June 2019, https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/6/3/18647626/instagram-virtual-influencers-lil-miquela-ai-startups.
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