The Authentic Edge: Why Human Influencers Outshine AI Influencers

There are many AI influencers available that advertise different brands on social media sites like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. But a study shows that "the informative value of influencers’ content, authenticity, and homophily positively affect their parasocial relationships, which in turn, affects followers’ purchase intention and evaluation of brand credibility.".

There is an influencer Alix Earle on TikTok who has 6.3 million followers. An AI chatbot was asked if Alix Earle is beautiful and it answered yes. This doesn’t mean that Alix Earle is only famous for her looks. She has a large fan following because she is beautiful and has a great personality. That’s the reason why her followers are always curious to see which clothes she will wear and what brand of makeup she will use.

Now that AI influencers are in question, people are often wondering if these influencers will be able to take up the place of human influencers. The answer to this is that AI influencers taking the place of human influencers is impossible because humans are more authentic than AI. A few years ago, an AI influencer called Lil Miquela who was made to look like a fashionable woman went to Instagram and got herself some brand deals. Every company was interested in her because at that time AI influencers were rare so everyone wanted to see what it can do. Now, many AI influencers have come forward and most of them are designed to look like a ‘hot woman”.

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John Herman of NewYork Times Magazine says that AI influencers are effective for brand advertising because the public remembers them for so long. It isn’t because the AI influencers advertise stuff better than human influencers, but it is because AI influencers are someone people remember for so long because they are unique. The real issue is that no one wants AI influencers to use or wear a product to advertise it. Human influencers often use subtle ways of marketing which AI influencers are not capable of doing. Adult content creators are also getting affected with AI influencers because these AI influencers can easily make images of themselves wearing specific outfits after the users pay them. Aitana is also an AI influencer and posts pictures of her in lingerie and bikini but many men cannot tell that she is an AI influencer.

Photo: Digital Information World - AIgen

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World