This article first appeared in Digital Edge, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on October 9, 2023 - October 15, 2023

Bid adieu to the past and say hello to the AI-tastic influencers who are harnessing the power of cutting-edge algorithms and machine learning techniques to revolutionise content creation and captivate audiences on social media.

Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered innovation possesses the ability to multitask and gives audiences a better perspicacity of brands. Given that most AI influencers have maintained a positive and professional image thus far, they are gaining prominence in commercials and brand advertising.

AI influencers are purpose-built to promote brands, products or services, or even curate and share content and reply to comments and messages from their fans.

These influencers harness the capabilities of natural language processing algorithms to craft responses in a human-like manner within comments and messages.

They also use generative adversarial networks (GANs) to create realistic images and videos of themselves. GANs are known for generating realistic and diverse content by engaging in a continuous adversarial training process.

Here is a list of AI influencers who have been making waves on social media of late.

The first AI influencer, Lil Miquela, was created in 2016 by computing company Brud. The half-Brazilian, half-Spanish AI influencer was named one of TIME Magazine’s “25 Most Influential People on the Internet” with three million followers on Instagram.

Miquela has collaborated with brands such as Prada, Calvin Klein and Samsung. Registered as a Spotify creator, Miquela possesses a portfolio of her own music, even featuring in a few music videos.

Miquela essentially mimics a real-life 19-year-old influencer growing up in Los Angeles (LA) and being in a romantic relationship with LA model Nick Killian. Miquela collaborates with real-life artists, musicians and designers too, one of them being supermodel Bella Hadid, in a Calvin Klein advertisement.

Oh Rozy, Korea’s first virtual influencer created by Sidus Studio X in 2020, lives life as a 22-year-old model and DJ, and is also an advocate for sustainability. She debuted as a singer in February 2022 with her debut single Who Am I and has continued to put out music.

Rozy has worked with brands like Tiffany & Co and Calvin Klein, and has a following of 150,000 on Instagram. Her fans coined her the nickname “GamSeong JangIn”, which means expression expert, as she showcases a range of facial expressions and poses in her posts.

Rozy even made “humane” connections with famous Korean actors Jung Hae-in and Ahn Bo-hyun. She has made TV appearances on WeL!ve by KBS World TV, interacting with the hosts as they asked her questions.

She also participates in the democratic process by encouraging her followers to vote in the general elections. Her commercial for insurance firm Shinhan Life Insurance in 2021 has racked up over nine million views on YouTube.

imma was brought to life by Tokyo-based ModelingCafe Inc, a company with a stellar reputation in the field of computer graphic modelling, in 2018.

The pink-haired fashion model — whose name translates into “now” in Japanese — has a following of 398,000 and is often seen donning luxury brands such as Valentino, Fendi, Chanel, Dior and Balenciaga. She has collaborations with Adidias, The North Face, Ikea and SK-II.

The virtual model even participated in the closing ceremony of the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2021 through projection mapping. imma’s estimated annual earnings, as reported by Wired, are up to US$147,000 (about RM691,000).

imma’s collection of posts includes interactions with real-life celebrities like Steve Aoki and JJ Lin. She also frequently engages with her fans and is passionately dedicated to raising awareness about various social issues, mirroring the actions of a genuine human being.

The Tokyo virtual influencer has also created her own clothing brand, called Astral Body, which is set to further expand in Japan and Korea in the near future.

In 2017, Shudu broke into the fashion scene as the world’s first digital supermodel created by the first all-digital modelling agency, The Diigitals.

Shudu was featured in Vogue, HYPEBEAST, V Magazine, and WWD within the first two years of her career. She even made an appearance on the red carpet at the 2019 BAFTA Awards in a Swarovski gown.

Shudu was designed using 3D modelling software such as Daz3D and Photoshop, and garment simulation software Clo3D, inspired by other black models such as Naomi Campbell, Alex Wek and Iman.

The influencer was created with the intention of empowering women of diversity and to uplift and bring awareness to various issues in the fashion industry.

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