The Rise of AI-Generated Influencers: A New Era of Beauty and Diversity?

The world is witnessing the dawn of a new era in the influencer marketing space, where AI-generated personalities are slowly becoming a norm. The latest example is the inaugural Miss AI beauty pageant, where Kenza Layli, a Moroccan lifestyle influencer, was crowned the winner. But what does this mean for the future of beauty standards, and are we ready to accept the implications of AI-generated influencers? Let's take a closer look at the context. The pageant, organized by Fanvue, an influencer platform for both AI and human creators, drew entries from over 1,500 AI programmers worldwide. The contestants were evaluated not only on their physical appearance but also on their creators' use of AI tools and their social media influence. The winner, Kenza Layli, was created by Myriam Bessa, founder of the Phoenix AI agency, who will receive $5,000 cash, support on Fanvue, and a publicist to raise Layli's profile. While AI-generated influencers are not new, many of the existing virtual influencers required a human touch and were crafted by a team of copywriters and art directors. This is not the case with the contestants in the Miss AI pageant, whose images were created solely using programs such as Open AI's DALL·E 3, Midjourney, or Stable Diffusion, and whose speeches and posts are generated by programs like ChatGPT. But what are the implications of this trend? On the one hand, AI-generated influencers could bring about a new era of diversity and inclusivity to the beauty industry. With the ability to create avatars that can reflect a wider range of physical characteristics, AI-generated influencers could help challenge traditional beauty standards and promote a more inclusive and diverse representation of beauty. However, experts have also expressed concerns about the potential homogenization of beauty standards. Dr. Kerry McInerney, a research associate at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge, notes that AI-generated images may further reinforce existing beauty norms, which are often sexist, fatphobic, and colorist. "These tools are made to replicate and scale up existing patterns in the world," McInerney says. "They're not made necessarily to challenge them, even if they're sold as tools that enhance creativity. " As we move forward, it's essential to consider the ethical implications of AI-generated influencers. Will they perpetuate existing beauty standards, or will they challenge and disrupt them? What are the potential consequences of creating avatars that can mimic and amplify existing societal biases?