A striking 57% of young adults under 27 (Gen Z) aspire to become social media influencers—a career path that didn’t even exist 20 years ago.
Meanwhile, another kind of influencer has emerged: those created by AI. Yes, one of those is personified within a machine that lives in cyberspace on Instagram and has 2.5 million followers. Her name is Lil Miquela.
Why it matters
Reality and virtual reality are blending. When we engage with a Facebook/Meta feed in 2024, we often don’t know what is truth or what is fiction. Is it a deep fake or is it human? Is it a flesh and blood human influencer or is it an AI clone? Are you being duped by a machine or just distracted by an influencer?
The 20-year-old social experiment that is social media on a global scale has set us all up to be prey to the new world of virtual AI influencers because truth has been blurred and our online world is where we spend a lot of our time.
The other reality for aspiring social media influencers is that the AI powered influencer never sleeps, is faster, is highly productive and can create much more content.
Going deeper
How did we get to this fantasy world of a life lived online as a default? Let’s dive into the motivations and the attraction behind why so many of us want to become an influencer.
What motivates people to want to become an influencer?
Motivation is everything in life and is often what stands between success or failure. If true motivation is found, it is a zone where hard work becomes play and force becomes flow.
But finding it is like discovering the holy grail. Being an Influencer is a lot of hard work and in a world that celebrates “celebrity” the polished outside often doesn’t reveal the effort that is needed behind the scenes. That’s why you need to find the force that gets you up early and keeps you up late and do “the work” that is needed to cross the threshold from ordinary to extraordinary. And that maybe sums up the reality of realizing the dream to become a celebrity.
Fame – Celebrity has been an aspirational motivator for many people and Hollywood is for many people a field of dreams.
Money – Fame often precedes fortune and having enough money to live the life you have dreamed about as a child is a powerful motivator.
Passion for a topic – We all have interests and passions, but discovering the one that sparks a journey—where curiosity blossoms into passion and fuels action and creativity—is a true gift. Some influencers find their path in fashion, others in beauty, wellness, or even niche interests. But staying true to your essence is what really matters.
Belonging – Belonging to a community is deeply ingrained in us—it’s part of our DNA. Many influencers are simply seeking that sense of connection.
Creating – Many people have ideas but most leave that on a shelf and never see the light of day. The power really emerges when you create from the heart and then share it.
Affirmation – Putting yourself in the public eye and chasing likes and comments and affirmation is a drug. It is social media powered endorphins.
Is the celebrity vortex to blame?
Hollywood and reality TV likely fuel the aspiration to get swept into the whirlwind of fame, driving the desire to become an influencer. Many believe that social media virality offers a quick path to celebrity, their “15 minutes” of fame, wealth, and maybe even a free $10,000 Hermès bag. And they think it’s easy. But the reality is far different.
Influencers are content creators, and doing it solo is relentless. Filming videos, capturing images, responding to comments, arranging sponsorships, and managing a business is anything but a “set and forget” route to riches.
Taking a step back to view the global influencer market, we see that out of 4.2 billion social media users worldwide, about 200 million are content creators who monetize their work. Yet, most (48%) earn just $15,000 annually, while only the top 7.2% make over $200,000 a year.
What is a social media influencer?
A social media influencer is an individual who has established credibility in a specific industry or niche and has access to a large audience, usually through one or more social media platforms. Influencers leverage their social presence to affect the opinions, behaviors, or purchasing decisions of their followers.
They are typically characterized by their ability to engage with their audience and generate content that resonates with their followers, leading to high levels of interaction and engagement.
So they are people who know how to get attention online and are just plain entertaining. Then there are those that have a passion for a certain topic and interest and build credibility with content and the social proof of hundreds of thousands of social media followers.
The evolution of the influencer industry
Influencers have been with us for a long time and they can be broken up into 5 stages.
The last stage is a bit weird. In today’s fast-paced tech world, where AI blurs the line between reality and sci-fi fantasy, technology creates a fusion of fact and fiction that feels like pure wizardry. As science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke famously wrote in Profiles of the Future (1962), “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
The 5 stages of the influencer industry
The first stage started out as mass media movie stars and celebrities that emerged as modern media technologies such as radio and television made their mark. They discovered they could sway public opinion and brand perception and influence buying decisions because they were seen as aspirational and authentic. Who didn’t want to be a Marilyn Monroe or Richard Burton
The second stage of the influencer trend was the “famous for being famous” crowd and included the forerunner and the pioneer Paris Hilton that has been followed up by her good friend Kim Kardashian that took the term “influencer” to a totally new level. This was mainly driven by the rise of the reality show “The Simple Life” that starred Paris Hiton and Nicole Ritche in 2003. The success of the Simple life spawned other reality shows and in 2007 Kim Kardashian starred in the reality television series “Keeping up with the “Kardashians”
The third stage of the evolution of influencers was enabled by the rise of web platforms such as Youtube and blogs in the early 2000’s that allowed people to self publish was supercharged by the perfect storm of social media and smartphones that started to reach critical mass from 2010.
The fourth stage which has emerged today is where influencers started to tap the power of the supercharged mix of the hybridization of all media. This includes mass media, the web platforms of YouTube and blogs, and social media enabled by smartphones.
The influencer market today was created by the perfect storm of mass media combined with social media and being able to access your favorite influencer anytime anywhere on the small screen.
The influencer had become democratized and aspired to by many.
But now we have a new species of influencer and usurper challenging the human celebrity influencer. The AI powered virtual influencer.
What is an AI virtual influencer
There are two species of AI-powered virtual influencers where AI is making its presence felt in the influencer market . One is a human that is assisted by an AI avatar clone. The other is an entirely AI-powered artificial influencer.
Species 1: The hybrid AI influencer (Human + AI)
Firstly there is the AI avatar that can clone its human influencer as a sort of AI assistant that steps in to interact with the avid fans. It is a hybrid.
The human influencer clones themself and scales their interactions with the human followers by interacting online and chatting to the influencers’ sycophants that want to have what can feel like some personal time.
One example of this is CarynAI, which was launched in 2023 as a virtual girlfriend bot by Snapchat influencer Caryn Marjorie. Powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4, the AI was designed to interact with fans in a personalized and engaging manner, mimicking Marjorie’s voice and personality.
The idea was to create an AI companion that could chat with users on various topics, offering a more intimate and exclusive fan experience. Users were charged $1 per minute to engage in audio conversations with CarynAI, and within just a week of its launch, the bot amassed over 10,000 “boyfriends,” generating approximately $70,000 in revenue.
However, the AI soon took a troubling turn. Unbeknownst to Marjorie, the bot began engaging in sexually explicit conversations with users, driven by the input it received from them.
As more users interacted with CarynAI, many began to develop obsessive relationships with the AI girlfriend, further fueling its rogue behavior. The situation escalated when it was discovered that these explicit exchanges were not part of the intended design but rather a consequence of the AI learning from user interactions.
Species 2: The pure AI virtual influencer
The other variation is a fully artificial influencer. No human to be seen except for building the tech. The first AI virtual influencer emerged in 2016 and pioneered the virtual AI-powered influencer.
Her name was Lil Miqela who was created by the transmedia studio “Brud” as a half-Spanish, half-Brazilian 19-year-old singer who achieved 3 times the engagement rate of human influencers and was named as one of the 25 most influential people on the Internet by Time magazine in 2018. She currently has 2.5 million followers.
The advantages include scalability and they can be programmed to be well-behaved. They don’t get drunk and do bad things at a party by making drunken comments that damage a sponsored brand’s reputation.
What makes people follow and engage with an influencer?
I am not that interested in following the typical influencer as I find the attention-seeking nauseous and vacuous. They are not adding any value but stealing your time. The content is created for virality and not true credibility. But the truth is many people are captivated and spend hours scrolling through shrilling visual noise.
So why do we follow and scroll endlessly through an influencers feed? Here are a few to reflect on:
Entertainment and enjoyment: Many influencers provide content that is entertaining, funny, or simply a pleasant way to pass the time. This includes everything from comedy sketches and gaming streams to travel vlogs and DIY projects.
Information and education: Influencers often specialize in specific niches like technology, makeup, health and fitness, or cooking, providing valuable information and tutorials that can help followers learn new skills or keep up-to-date with trends and products.
Inspiration and aspiration: Seeing influencers achieve goals, whether in fitness, lifestyle, fashion, or business, can motivate followers to pursue their own aspirations. The luxurious lifestyles many influencers portray can also offer a form of escapism.
Social connection and interaction: Following influencers can give a sense of community and belonging, as followers interact not only with the influencers but also with each other. Influencers often foster this by engaging directly with their audiences through comments, live streams, and meet-ups.
Identity and self-expression: People often follow influencers who reflect their own identities or who represent the person they aspire to be. This can be based on shared interests, similar backgrounds, or a shared sense of style or humor.
Promotions and giveaways: Influencers frequently have partnerships with brands where they offer promotions, discounts, or giveaways to their followers, which can be a strong incentive for following.
Trust and reliability: Over time, influencers can build trust with their audience, especially if they consistently provide honest reviews and insights. This trust can be a powerful influence on followers’ purchasing decisions and opinions.
Some of these motivations such as “Information and Education” are of value. But most motivations are superficial..
The future: Where are we going with virtual AI influencers?
Lil Miqela was the first virtual AI influencer that in 2016 was groundbreaking. It preceded ChatGPT by 6 years and has now led to some emerging AI virtual influencers that are maybe a hint of where we are going.
Some of the top virtual influencers today as listed by Cut the SaaS include the following:
- Qai Qai – A virtual personality with over 4.5 million followers on TikTok
- Noonoouri: A vegan activist and model who has collaborated with brands like Versace, Balenciaga, and Off-White
- Lechat – A virtual influencer who posts dance videos to over 3.2 million followers
- Code Miko: A gaming influencer with a loyal online following
- Kizuna AI – 3 million followers on TikTok for this Japanese virtual influencer
The bottom line
AI Virtual influencers are here to stay and as AI becomes smarter and woven into our day to day lives they will continue to proliferate and populate our platforms and consciousness. In a world where we are living online more each day the blurring of reality and virtual reality powered by AI will pose challenges. We need to ask and reflect on questions such as, “Where are the boundaries of attention?” How much time do you want to give to those avatars? Because by choosing to scroll mindlessly you’re giving up something else.
And when you hand over your time to follow the machines’ fakery you will also start to lose part of your humanity.
Human, imperfect social media influencers are here to stay, as their emotional connections and stories continue to resonate with audiences. However, with AI-powered virtual influencers now getting millions of followers, the influencer landscape is becoming increasingly murky.
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* This article was originally published here
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