AI Influencers and Faceless Creators are Reshaping Social Media

Web3, AI and the creator economy in under 3 minutes per week!

Author

Shira Lazar
April 21, 2024

Hi Alpha fam,

What a week!

I finished hosting the main stage at NAB in Vegas, and now I’m heading to Saudi Arabia for Outer Edge Riyadh, but that won’t stop me from bringing you this week’s newsletter!

What You Need to Know: 

TikTok is reportedly developing AI avatars to act as virtual influencers in ads, potentially competing with human influencers on the platform. These avatars will be able to promote and sell products by reading scripts provided by advertisers on TikTok Shop. Although still in the testing phase and not yet ready for release, TikTok envisions these AI creators as an addition to their existing creator community. This development comes amid concerns about how virtual influencers will affect sponsorship opportunities and earnings for human creators, especially following the discontinuation of TikTok's $1 billion creator fund.

Meanwhile, a tech startup named 1337 is harnessing AI to create virtual influencers controlled by real people, including teenagers, to populate social media. These AI-generated personalities, like Agnes, Finn, and Jade, mimic real-life influencers by posting updates and engaging with followers but are entirely fictional. The company, which plans to expand its roster of digital entities, involves human creators in curating content that aligns with each influencer's devised persona. 

This parallels the rise of "faceless creators," who produce content anonymously using avatars, shifting focus from personal identity to niche scalable content. This trend, powered by AI, is changing traditional personal branding and raising authenticity concerns in the digital creator economy.

Not surprisingly, the big flag in this arena is around female AI influencers and models who are making upwards of 10k a month.

Many see this as problematic as women continue to be sexualized in the AI era and used as objects of “desire by design.”

A little history…

This isn’t the first time we are seeing AI influencers going viral. Shout out to Lil Miquela, who was one of the first. Lil Miquela is a fictional CGI character created by Trevor McFedries and Sara DeCou in 2016. Designed as a 20-year-old Brazilian-American, she functions as a social media personality and Instagram model, promoting brands like Calvin Klein and Prada. With over 3 million followers, she reportedly charges 10k per post and has even been a judge on the FOX game show Alter Ego.

A similar conversation has brewed from her viral growth, leading to backlash around many of her brand campaigns.

🔥My Hot Take: I think there are pros and cons to this opportunity. The positive aspect is the ability for creators to scale their personal brand, content, and work, which helps with burnout. On the other hand, there will be the wrong people who will benefit and profit from this. Of course, this is nothing new. Will this take deals away from influencers? I think that brands spending money on fake talent probably aren’t going to be the same ones wanting to work with real, authentic individuals and connect with their communities.

Shira Lazar

On My Radar:

Meta AI Assistant 

Mark Zuckerberg announced a big update to Meta AI, specifically the AI Assistant, which is now available across its major platforms, including WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger. This free AI assistant can respond to queries, create animations, and generate high-quality images. Leveraging real-time knowledge sourced from Google and Microsoft’s Bing, Meta AI operates on Meta's latest language model, Meta Llama 3, which was also unveiled recently.

Check out the exclusive interview from content creator Roberto Nickson:

I tried it out myself, and I was somewhat impressed. This could be really helpful as a sounding board when creating content. I also like how it’s easily accessible via the app. My hope is that in the next phase, it can connect directly to your account to provide daily updates on stats, what’s working and what’s not, and suggest what to post each day for growth and engagement.

Other headlines to check out:

Web3

Creator Economy 

AI

I’m Bullish On…

I’m in Dubai, and this app that my friend Eric Siu recommended has been a game-changer for my jet lag. It offers recommendations on when to sleep both leading up to and during your trip. Try it out—I promise you will thank me!

Gentle reminder:

Most times, a problem is only an unrealized opportunity

-Light Watkins

Remember, I'm Bullish on you!

With gratitude,