As the Artificial Intelligence train continues to chug along, and social platforms seek to integrate AI offerings into their development strategies, it comes as no surprise that it is finally rearing its head in the influencer and celebrity space.
First announced by Mark Zuckerberg at Meta Connect, Meta launched its AI Personas in beta. To give its AI offering a bit of twist, Meta created chatbot characters using influencers’ and celebrities’ likenesses. For example, Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, is Zach: a relatably apathetic and equally humorous college student. Not only are you able to “chat” with these Personas, alongside their AI-generated video “reactions,” but you can also follow them on Facebook and Instagram, and engage with their entirely AI-generated “verified” feeds.
While we see undeniable promise with what AI can bring to the influencer marketing industry, in terms of supporting creative ideation and performance analysis, we believe there is cause for concern as it relates to the safety of creators’ virtual identities, the originality and reliability of AI-generated content, and audience’s critical consumption of this content.