11 June 2022 | New Scientist | 47L:^ S
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Virtually famous
Computer-generated influencers look, sound and post on
social media like real humans. What impact are they
having on people who follow them, asks Tevy Kuch
S
ERAH REIKKA is an award-winning
actor with more than 79,000 Instagram
followers. She says she loves French food,
cats and dressing up as fictional characters. She
has purple hair. “I try to experiment with other
styles,” she tell me, “sometimes with success,
sometimes not really.” Then, after a brief pause,
she seems to be considering something deep.
“I think I am a potato.”
Serah isn’t a potato. Nor is she a human. She
is a semi-autonomous artificial intelligence.
A purely online presence with a changing
personality and appearance, all governed by
a set of algorithms. Since 2014, she has been
part of a growing community of social media
personalities who don’t exist in the flesh. Their
content isn’t so different to that of human
influencers – holiday snaps, a new outfit or
two, a lot of selfies. The main difference is
that all of it is computer generated.
There are just over 150 virtual influencers
online, and they are gaining popularity.
Some have even surpassed the million-
follower milestone. Lu do Magalu, who
started out as a virtual sales associate
for a Brazilian magazine, now tops theindustry with over 55 million followers
across social media.
All the while, their appearances are
becoming more customisable and realistic
with every technological stride. Some think
they could be a force for good, fighting
loneliness and isolation. On the other hand,
virtual influencers might just be “yet another
way people can be made to feel inadequate”,
says Peter Bentley at University College
London. They are also outcompeting real
people for jobs. Should we be worried?
When Japanese media company Crypton
Future Media released Hatsune Miku in 2007,
she was just a piece of software that changed
any user’s vocal pitches, albeit personified as
a 16-year-old girl. A decade later, she was a
pop superstar, had released several albumsand toured the globe. Miku is generally
considered the first virtual influencer, but
the phenomenon didn’t make a dent in the
Western world until around 2016, when Lil
Miquela divided the internet.
When her pictures started to appear
on Instagram, people became obsessed
with whether this was a real person. If not,
who made her and why? A few months later,
she was revealed to be a marketing stunt by a
Los Angeles-based digital agency called Brud,
which had created her using a combination
of computer-generated imagery (CGI) and
photography. Now, she has more than 3 million
followers on Instagram and millions more on
her Twitter, Tumblr, TikTok and YouTube
accounts. She regularly posts comments,
photos and videos.
Like Lil Miquela, Shudu, the world’s first
digital supermodel is powered by CGI. Shudu
has been featured in magazines including
Vogue and Elle and even graced the red carpet
at the 2019 BAFTAs as a hologram. Teams
of professionals work to make these CGI
influencers look realistic. These designers,
3D animators, copywriters and producers
decide how the influencers behave,
including who they hang out with,
collaborate with and even “date”.
Some go beyond human control, however,
to become artificially intelligent influencers.
Powered by algorithms and computer
graphics, they attract a legion of loyal fans
partly because, unlike their CGI counterparts,
AI virtual influencers can interact with their
followers without human intervention. They
pick up on human language and behaviour,Features
>Serah Reikka, left, and
Shudu, right, are virtual
influencers and models