How fake women became the real stars
I’m scrolling Instagram at 11:47 PM (don’t judge me) when I stop on this reel.
It’s one of those perfect morning routine videos.
You know, soft lighting, expensive looking…everything. The kind of life that makes you question your own choices.
The girl is gorgeous. Dewy skin, effortless beach waves, bone structure that makes you wonder if her parents were both models.
She’s doing the whole morning aesthetic thing: reaching for her rose gold iPhone with perfectly manicured nails, padding across marble floors in her silk robe, applying some serum that probably costs more than my rent.
I watch her make this Instagram-perfect latte, the foam swirls into a heart, the steam rises just right, everything looks like it was lit by a professional photographer.
She’s standing in front of these floor-to-ceiling windows with a city view that screams “my trust fund has a trust fund.”
The whole thing is hypnotic.
Fifteen seconds of pure lifestyle porn set to lo-fi beats.
“Starting my day with intention and gratitude!” the caption says. “What’s one thing you’re grateful for today? 🌅”
I double tap in approval of living vicariously through a 5-inch screen.
Then a comment catches my eye: “She’s not real lol.”
I scrolled through her bio. “✨ Virtual influencer ✨ Spreading positivity through pixels 💫”
Wait…what?!
I go back and watch the reel again. This time I noticed things.
The way her hand moves…too fluid, too perfect.
The complete absence of any ambient sound.
How every single detail is flawless in a way that feels…off.
She’s AI, computer-generated.
That morning routine I just envied? Never happened.
That apartment? Doesn’t exist.
Those hands applying that expensive serum? They’ve never touched anything.
And you know what? I don’t really care.
Virtual Personas with Real Influence
AI-generated influencers (also called virtual influencers) are essentially fictional characters who live on social media and attract real followers.
They look and behave just like human influencers online, sharing outfit pics, tagging brands, dropping “relatable” captions, but behind the scenes, they’re crafted by computers and creative teams, not born in a delivery room.
These digital avatars’ appearance and personality are designed for maximum appeal.
Some look obviously cartoonish, but many are photorealistic. They might have a whole backstory, age, and lifestyle invented for them.
They chat with fans in comments and even “collaborate” with real humans in photoshoots.
They’re not sentient, yet, but their images, style, and behaviors are crafted using AI and CGI.
Behind it is a savvy team of designers, writers, and programmers operating a very glamorous puppet.
The audience sees a charismatic influencer on TikTok or Instagram, but every post, freckles and all, is carefully engineered.
In many cases, the people running the account won’t hide that it’s virtual. The bio might say “virtual influencer” or “robot” outright.
Yet followers still treat these influencers like real celebs, engaging, idolizing, sliding into their DMs.
If you find this mind-bending, you’re not alone.
Building an Influencer from Scratch
So, how do you make an influencer out of thin air?
It turns out you can break it down step-by-step, almost like a recipe for a very modern Frankenstein:
Concept and Character Design
First, creators dream up the persona. This involves choosing everything from the influencer’s look to their personality, interests, and quirks.
Will they be a chic 22-year-old model from LA? An edgy gamer with neon hair? Every detail is decided upfront to appeal to a target audience.
Pretentious horoscope sign and favorite kombucha flavor optional.
Visual Creation
Using CGI and generative AI, designers produce lifelike images and videos of the character.
Think high-end video game graphics but posed for Instagram.
Some use motion capture with real actors to get realistic movements; others rely on pure AI to generate photos.
Either way they generate a portfolio of pictures where the influencer looks like a real person doing real influencer things.
Personality Upload and Content Creation
Now they write captions in the character’s voice, craft posts, and decide how they interact.
This is part storytelling, part marketing.
The persona is carefully tailored to the audience’s tastes; nothing is random. If the target is Gen Z fashion enthusiasts, the AI influencer will drop slang, quote trending memes, and wear the latest streetwear.
It’s calculated authenticity.
Social Media Deployment
With visuals and content ready, the team posts regularly on platforms.
The AI influencer starts “living” their online life: gaining followers, replying to comments.
Fans often engage as if they were human, asking advice, reacting to stories, tagging them in fan art.
It’s a strange new form of celebrity: one born from brainstorms and code, who will never need a ring light or run to the ladies room.
Meet the Faux Famous
These virtual stars aren’t fringe experiments; they’re already working with brands, dropping songs, and getting invited to award shows.
This might sound like a Black Mirror episode, but AI-generated influencers are very real.
Let’s meet some headliners:
Lil Miquela
Arguably the queen of virtual influencers, Lil Miquela is a freckled 19-year-old (forever) from Los Angeles, who happens to be completely fictional.
Created in 2016, she now has about 2.5 million Instagram followers and has landed gigs with Prada and Samsung.
She’s even released pop songs and appeared in music videos.
Time magazine named her one of the 25 Most Influential People on the Internet.
One funny anecdote: in a staged “feud,” another AI character hacked Miquela’s account in 2018 and “exposed” her as a robot. It was manufactured drama for publicity, but fans ate it up.
Yes, AI influencers can have beef.
The future is here.
Aitana López
Hailing from Barcelona (in her storyline), Aitana is a virtual model launched in 2022.
With cotton-candy-pink hair and a gym-sculpted physique, she quickly attracted hundreds of thousands of followers.
She receives private messages from actual celebrities asking her out on dates. Imagine learning your crush is literally CGI.
According to her creators, Aitana earns up to €10,000 a month from brand deals and charges over €1,000 per sponsored post.
Not bad for someone who doesn’t exist.
Shudu Gram
Touted as the world’s first digital supermodel, Shudu is a dark-skinned South African beauty created by a British photographer.
She looks so realistic that when she first appeared wearing Fenty Beauty lipstick, many fans thought she was real, including, reportedly, Rihanna’s team.
Her existence sparked debate about diversity and who gets to “create” representations of black women in media.
A human controversy around a virtual person, chew on that.
There are over 200 virtual influencers active today, each with their own niche and fanbase.
Despite their different vibes, they all execute the influencer game flawlessly, by design.
They don’t get tired, they don’t age, and they never get canceled. Every move is calculated to maximize engagement.
They are the ideal influencer employees: always on-brand, controversy-free (mostly), and utterly controllable.
Influence Without Humans: The Bigger Picture
AI influencers seem like harmless sci-fi fun, but they’re reshaping culture in real time and this trend has very real implications.
The Line Between Real and Fake Is Disappearing
We’ve grown accustomed to photoshopped pics and face filters, but AI influencers take it further.
They are literally fake people whom large audiences treat as real.
Interestingly, many Gen Z folks don’t seem bothered. Whether an influencer is flesh or code isn’t a deal-breaker if they’re entertaining.
Younger users care more about the personality that resonates than whether it’s human.
The audience might be evolving past the need for their internet heroes to be human at all.
They’re selling to you…and It’s Working
Over 58% of American adults followed at least one virtual influencer in 2022, and 35% of those people bought a product recommended by one.
That means millions are taking shopping cues from AI-generated figures.
A virtual influencer could be designed to be extra persuasive, using data-driven insights into what visuals or phrases push your buttons.
The Business Shake-Up
Brands have far more control over a virtual figure’s messaging.
With an AI character, a company can script exactly what will be said and how it will look.
This has economic consequences for real influencers. Some marketers are already allocating budget to virtual influencers; 61% planned to use them in campaigns by 2024.
In one survey, 37% of marketers believed virtual influencers could eventually replace real ones entirely.
If influencing is your side hustle, you might soon be competing with a charismatic cartoon for brand deals.
Cultural and Ethical Questions
We’re entering an era where fictional characters mingle with real people in spaces that were once “authentically human.”
This could normalize a curated perfection that even human influencers couldn’t achieve.
There’s concern about transparency, AI influencers should clearly disclose their virtual nature to avoid deceiving audiences.
Most do currently, but as the tech improves, the risk of people being duped grows.
Some, though, see positive aspects: a virtual influencer won’t face exploitation or burnout, and can be more inclusive in concept.
From Influencers to Everything Else
Today, it’s Instagram models.
Tomorrow, could it be virtual news anchors, AI politicians, even virtual friends?
We already have AI chatbots trying to be friends, and China has debuted AI news anchors.
The success of AI influencers suggests people can form real attachments with virtual beings.
That’s profound.
It challenges our notion of what “real connection” means.
We might be heading toward a world where digital entities stand alongside humans in all sorts of roles.
The influencer arena is the testing ground proving people will listen to, be inspired by, and even love characters that step out of fiction and into our timelines.
Is This the Future We Ordered?
Since Influencers can be expertly scripted, flawlessly rendered simulations, we have to ask what we value in our content creators.
The rise of AI influencers is a logical next step, the ultimate evolution of an internet culture that prizes aesthetics and consistency.
Maybe we won’t miss the “real” influencers because many of them were playing characters too, curating their lives heavily to look perfect.
The difference now is the character has completely taken over.
We’ve essentially said, “We don’t need you, humans; we’ve got this,” and proceeded to entertain ourselves with digital dolls given souls by the committee.
There’s an emotional truth in why no one’s up in arms.
We’ve always been willing to emotionally invest in fiction, from movie stars to Disney characters, so why not an Instagram friend who happens to be virtual?
As long as that influencer makes us laugh, gives us something aspirational, or shares a helpful skincare tip, do we truly care if there’s a heartbeat behind it?
The success of AI-generated influencers suggests we don’t, or at least not as much as we thought.
So next time you catch yourself enamored by a social media starlet who seems too perfect, you might wonder: is she an AI?
But more importantly, you might realize you don’t really mind either way.
And that says as much about us as it does about algorithms.
In the grand circus of online influence, the ringmasters may no longer be human, and oddly enough, the show goes on, just fine.
Want more unfiltered takes on how digital culture is rewriting reality? Follow [Futuredamned] for analysis that doesn’t ask permission to question what’s real.
