Will Artificial Intelligence (AI) replace Influencers?

There has been a rise in AI influencers since the emergence of virtual Influencer software in the market. Lil Miquela and Shudu Gram are some of the most famous American artificial intelligence influencers who have bagged brand deals with big names like Calvin Klein, Fenty Beauty, and Prada. Recently, Boat partnered with India’s first virtual influencer, Kyra, to promote its brand.

AI influencing can be a more cost-efficient tool for companies to market their products than hiring human influencers since they can create a virtual influencer who can become a loyal brand ambassador for their brand, promoting their products. The influencer can be designed as per the requirements and be an AI influencer who will not demand a huge fee or leave the brand.

However, there are some questions that arise.

Will AI replace human influencers?

Are virtual celebrities the future of Influencer Marketing?

In my opinion, although AI influencers have gotten a lot of attention currently due to the novelty factor, they cannot easily replace humans because of the following factors:

1. Life Story:

Every human influencer or celebrity has a story that leads him to the top, which inspires his audience and gets them to idolize the human. An AI influencer doesn’t have a story.

2. Relatibility:

Human influencers are relatable, and people watch youtubers or tik-tokers mostly because of the relatability factor, which helps them establish a connection with the influencer. AI influencers are not humans and hence do not have any experiences that can help their audience relate to them.

3. Experience:

Human influencers have the capacity to experience things and share their opinions about things like products they used, places they traveled, and mistakes they made. These experiences are valuable content for the audience. An AI can simply endorse a product; it cannot have its own experience to tell.

4. Connection:

Human influencers who belong to different cultural groups or communities help them gather communities of their type. For example, an Indian teenager influencer who loves gaming will gather an Indian teenager gaming audience of his type. An AI influencer does not have a community or a culture of its own unless artificially assigned; hence, it cannot form a genuine connection with its audience, unlike human influencers

There are many areas of Marketing where Artificial Intelligence has already stepped its foot, but there are some areas in Marketing that cannot be easily replaceable due to the lack of human element. Click on the article below to find the areas where AI cannot easily replace humans.