And they would add "unconventional" and "ugly" features to "raise awarness" but god forbid they hire a real person with those features. Companies somehow made something that is even faker than the influencers.
I wonder if theyll also hire digital influencers for disability inclusivity 🤔 Often neurotypicals and able-bodied people are cast for neurodivergent and disabled roles, so im really wondering if they will do the same with robots
lilmiquela is a cgi thing. that's the end of it. she's not a robot, she's not an android. she's nothing but a 3d render designed to look cool and animated by a team using mo-cap. that literally it--i hate people referring to her as a robot because she's not.
the issue is they’re all trying to have influencer energy with a miku face but it’s not working bc the best thing about miku was that they used her virtual/unrealness as part of her charm whereas they’re trying to make these new influencers come off as real. it’s weird and ugly.
@@ahlishaholloway233 hahahaha black mirror had an episode kind of similar, except we weren’t dealing with a wannabe influencer. that time it was a virtual wannabe comedian, and it was just as bad.
I remember when Calvin Klein made the lilmiquela and Bella Hadid kiss as a LGBTQA+ statement when they could have just hired actual LGBTQA+ people.....
Also important to note is that the Barbie vlogs are stylized to not look real and share a channel space with the actual toys, so they're kept in the context of being fiction.
The most disturbing thing to me is the "activism" coopted by them. Like blm isn't a marketing ploy, it's important and matters and using it and other issues to make your fake account look woke is so fucked up.
being a person who sees influencers all the same, I don't find it very disturbing. In the end it is still an industry that wants to relate to you in order to be able to sell easier by making it go through something more personal and relatable to you. (my english is not very good, sorry if there are spelling mistakes or something)
@@katherinemorelle7115 I wouldn’t say that. Veganism is a lifestyle, you can’t have a lifestyle if you don’t exist lol if they’re vegan they’re also Paleo and Keto.
it's also disturbing thinking about how artificial influencers will be able to have this "perfect/ideal body" because they're being created by a team who idealizes that body, and if it gets to the point where artificial and real influencers are indistinguishable, there will be even higher pressure for people to achieve this fake body that a literal fake person has
I went to see the insta of the main cgi girl in mention and ironically she was getting body shamed in the comments. People are so misogynistic that they will literally insult a digital avatar as long as it resembles a woman. There is no winning here.
I actually like that part about it. This way people can assume it's a digital avatar and there would be a dramatic decrease in annorexia or severely underweight models. No one can compete with an avatar so people could finally focus on other things than their image like improving the world or making meaningful connections. I genuinely feel like it would help fix superficiality and focus on something a software can't: meaningful human relationships.
@@amdl270 Every scientific study we have concerning this subject says the exact opposite of what you're saying. Body image issues will only get worse, that's a 100% guarantee. They are deliberately blurring the lines, they want people to think these products are REAL. They want to shame people into mutilating and starving themselves, buying more and more products to achieve that, spending thousands upon thousands of dollars to attempt to look like a literal video game character. A fake person. A doll. A puppet.
it’s literally no worse than the present, “real” people are literally photoshopping all their human, authentic traits away, as if they don’t even exist
Human influencers have a background of past (as: past life), skills, experiences, struggles, work behind their image, let that be good or bad (either a concept behind their content, an agenda for attention and money, or simply hours spent in the gym for an insta-worthy body). The digital ones do not exist outside the mind of anyone who observes or creates/modifies them. When looking at them, I feel painfully empty. They highlight a fear of non-existence in me I didn't know I had.
It's irritating how LilMiquela is marketed as being a wonder of artificial intelligence. She is _artificial_ but not that way - a real human actress/model who is hired to read a script and pose for pictures with a million dollar Snapchat filter over the face.
@@Sofia-kx3ft I mean the CGI is really fucking good - getting towards a point soon where it feels like it will get difficult to distinguish real people and CGIs.... I dont understand why ppl find it amazing tho - I find it fucking terrifying.
What worries me is that these companies will hire Digital Influencers to LARP for diversity. So instead of hiring a Black or South Asian model get a D.I to do it, get a plus size A.I instead of a real person and then you won't have to do any work out make meaningful change.
Yes!!!! It’s honestly like the ultimate slap in face for black people & poc since they’re using the popularity & trendiness that comes with having an individual who is apart of minority or commonly discriminated against as ”representation” for their brand and at the same time taking the money and opportunities away from the real, actual human beings who have to deal with that discrimination. They’ve found a way of earning money & fame from poc and at the same time completely shutting them out and taking everything away from them, it’s the ultimate racist dream. They’ve finally found a way of having the cake & eating it at the same time. It’s fucking disgusting
Right?? How is this not considered a digital form of black face? It worries me too that they'll create "digestible" versions of BIPOC. Like "black lite." It feels like a recipe for misrepresentation. Also if they ever did create a plus size AI she'd most likely have the most unrealistic proportions. I don't trust brands.
This is absolutely a parody of influencer culture. Like I would expect this in a better version of Cyberpunk 2077. You think all influencers are photoshopped? What about an influencer whose entire presence is digitally created? You think an influencer's activism is ingenuine? What about an avatar who's basically the mouth of a brand saying BLM? You think an influencer is literally just someone using their beauty and inexplicable fame to sell you stuff? What about a being literally created to sell you stuff? Also, I think this will absolutely lead to a corporate takeover of most art forms given enough time. A brand could just put up a digital avatar and make songs or write stories or make video essays (maybe even with a "camera") and release them frequently. Corporations make art now, but they're aware that authenticity is at a premium, and with enough smoke and mirrors, they could probably replicate that vibe and steal viewers from human creators.
hasnt this always been how it is tho? Any famous artist is a product with a team behind them, multiple contracts and a brand to uphold. At least this way a(n) artist(s) can maintain some semblance of their humanity and create content in the same way?
@@heyitsmezzie841 I mean, not entirely. There are still indie film makers, SoundCloud rappers, RU-vidrs who don't quite have the need for an entire team of people. But still, authenticity has been mentioned as a selling point of RU-vid, and the corporate vibe isn't entirely welcome here. So, my concern is that cotporations will create a digital avatar that emulates and competes with independent artists, this making independent artists less successful and less able togain a following
I think the digital influencer industry would eventually become oversaturated and wouldn't be as engaging as real influencers. So instead of buying cheap digital influencers sponsors would invest in actual people to promote their products. I'm speculating, who knows. I just like real people.
I would hope this remains true, but what if the distinction between real people and cgi creations becomes blurry ? children most likely won't distinguish as much as older generations will, and they'll be the ones most targeted and influenced ...
There's this department store in my country that came up with an "A.I. poster girl" as the face of the brand and everybody thinks it's so cool because she's the first one to look like a black woman. Recently she got a brand deal outside her store, which would make her the first CGI influencer of our country and that brought up an interesting discussion: the money from her deal is going straight to the pocket of a company that's worth 20 million dollars (I converted it). This could easily go to a real person's bank account, someone who might actually need or who's really gonna benefit from it. The people behind the CGI design hardly ever would get their share, some of them even spoke about how they don't get enough recognition and it's all about the social media managing nowadays.
nat natura and magalu are literally late capitalism dystopian nightmares and it's so sad that people really feel close to them... like that's not even a real person :/ i wish there was more discussion around this
@@itslina6500 let’s not forget how people se*ualize them!!* And how disturbing this could become in a near future. I’ve seen men saying that they replace the social contact they allegedly cannot get in real life with virtual interactions and that’s HIGHLY problematic. It would literally take me an essay to get into that topic, but I guess you know what I mean. It really feels like a dystopian future. *had to censor the word so the comment doesn’t end up in spam
Nothing deep to add here, just want to remind everyone that there was a _brazilian brand digital humanoid mascot secret santa_ The cgi woman from the makeup brand gave the cgi boy from the department store a *perfume*
Two things I want to add this your analysis! One, I think it's important to point out that one of the reason digital influencers are lucrative for corporations is that they can eternally retain the clout generated by the influencer. Human influencers are, well, both human and autonomous individuals. Once a contract or sponsorship is up, they can pursue opportunities with other opportunity and brands and the clout (or social capital) they have will follow them. The clout a corporation receives from an influencer is off of the individuals clout. But if your influencer is a robot/ai, all clout is 100% owned by them. And robot/ai can be made to never change, so that influencer will always align with the products and lifestyle the company is trying to sell. Secondly, the issue you raise of someone creating a bipoc avatar and therefore not having any money go to real bipoc people (or any minority group, or heck, any real person), and the fact these things are popular and people applaud the "representation" shows the problem with representation politics that is divorced from material analysis. Does representation matter if the material gains from the representation doesn't help real people and actively encroaches on their opportunities? Is there something better we can be doing with our activist time and energy? More direct? Thanks for making this video, it has the gears in my brain spinning overtime 🙂
This is just so, so wierd. It reminds me of that Mattel Barbie video that went viral a few years ago where Barbie had a serious vlog about how she saw sexism affecting her little sister and went on this sympathetic monologue about how we need to fight against it from affecting little girls. At first it was like "Wow! Progressive Barbie!" And then you realize just how creepy it is because Barbie's not real, her sister's not real, neither of them faced sexism, this entire scenario is fake cuz they're literally just a product packaged and sold to people, and Mattel was simply riding the wave of feminism to make Barbie look more "woke" and thus good to buy for kids. It's a really insidious type of marketing and I absolutely hate it.
Agree! (Though I just replied to another comment saying I have liked the few Barbie videos I’ve seen!) it’s wild that, even when you know how fake / manufactured it is, it can still win you over. It’s like emotional commercials, I fall for them every time 😩
Although I totally get where you're coming from.. I do have different feelings about the Barbie YT channel as opposed to the digital influencers discussed in this vid. Although Mattel absolutely capitalizes on 'trends' (even though feminism is not a /trend/), I am more... sympathetic to it, I guess, considering Barbie has had a massively positive impact on little girls feeling empowered (i.e. all the careers Barbie took on showing that girls are just as capable as boys). Then, on the other hand, it's hard to look past the obvious negative effects the brand has had on beauty standards (although they are making steps in the right direction with their new releases). Reconciling the two aspects feels like a snake eating is own tail, I suppose. Oh well.. maybe it's just the nostalgia for Barbie clouding my judgement lol
How can Mattel be "riding the wave of feminism" when Barbie has been designed as a glamorous feminist since the very beginning? Barbie popularized pink (at the time a masculine color), wore revealing bathing suits and trousers, was financially independent and practiced careers where there was very little female representation? Barbie's always been like that, only you just slept on it while radfems attacked Barbie for being thin and wearing pink. Also, what kind of argument is it that "it's creepy because she's not real, the scenario is fake, this is bullshit"? You might as well call every film, book, video game and theater play in existence "bullshit" because they all use fake scenarios and fake characters, but still evoke feelings in audiences. It's bad for some writing team to use the Barbie image to make a progressive feminist blog, but it's okay for an animation team to draw up a soap opera that makes real people fall in love with cartoons and even spend their savings on merch like body pillows??? If you're only concerned about the "realism" of it all -- that's a GENRE OF FICTION. It used to be called "epistolary novels", then in the early 2000's they were often referred to as Alternate Reality Games, and today we just call them whatever, and there is nothing inherently wrong about them or creepy, because even if you empathize with the fake characters, you still know in the back of your head that they're fake. A lot of horror fiction still relies on this genre, such as Dathan Auerbach's "Penpal" and of course the Marble Hornets web series. All that the writers of Barbie are doing is telling a story using Barbie as a character in it. So what? Are we going to destroy all art because it contains characters that don't exist? People cry when watching Romeo and Juliet on-stage, but according to you that would be "creepy" and wrong because Romeo and Juliet aren't real and they've never faced discrimination lmfao. Also, so what if the people behind Barbie are using stories to make a sale? In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it's MORE moral to use fake characters for narrative-driven marketing than real ones, because the minute you use the tragedy of an actual person to make a sale, you are being exploitative. Like when MLM essential oil scammers use deaths or illnesses of actual people they know in order to persuade a vulnerable, grieving victim to buy their tea tree aromatherapy kit. We can't even be sure that somebody telling a story is trying to make a sale. This is something I've talked with other Star Wars fans about, for instance: does Disney produce a lot of Star Wars media because there are loads of good sci-fi story-tellers out there who can tell a good story, or do they do it to sell toys? Ultimately it doesn't matter, because publishers /always/ want to turn a profit, and story-tellers /often/ want to just tell a story and be compensated for it. Even in a non-capitalist system, publishers would still want to have lucrative and popular authors under contract, so this isn't even a purely capitalist relationship. It's the way the art world works. The only exception might be sponsors who pay artists to experiment or who buy private works directly, as well as artists who self-publish. Furthermore, the intentions of an artist, unless expressly started, are up for debate. Did Orson Welles fake an invasion from aliens by reading H. G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" for some artistic or social purpose, or did he do it just for money, perhaps to attract more listeners to his program? You could cynically put down every artist as somebody who makes up fake characters and uses social topics in order to turn a buck, technically. Personally, as a writer myself, I don't see anything wrong even with writers who use Barbie herself as a mouthpiece. Especially Barbie: a lot of kids watch Barbie media, and introducing a feminist blog is a positive influence, regardless what the intention might be. Even Aristotle was like "nobody can guess a person's intention, therefore we should judge people by their actions and the consequences thereof". The action: Mattel hired at least one writer who used Barbie-verse characters to run an alt-universe blog about feminism. The consequences: children will be introduced to the topic of feminism at an early age and will less inclined to have a "not like other girls" mentality; possibly, sales of Barbie dolls will increase. Bear in mind that Mattel isn't even trying to sneak Barbie into the heads of people who don't know her -- the likelihood of somebody not knowing Barbie and finding that blog is pretty low. But let's take a negative example: Neopets, which was ostensibly designed as a free message board, tamagotchi sim and mini-game arcade, was actually a weird project by some Mormon Silicon Valley types to create a game that introduced kids to Wall Street and gambling (it didn't exactly work because Neopets was my shit back in the day but I still don't gamble, not even with stocks -- but according to numerous documentaries about that franchise, that's unfortunately what the original goal behind the site was). The action is harmless enough: provide kids with free games and a safe environment to chat. But the consequence was: getting kids hooked on gambling and normalizing forms of capitalist exploitation such as scalping; then, convincing kids (and even adults) to spend actual money on gambling games as well as meaningless digital items that scream "social status" in the NP community. This is an example of reprehensible guerrilla marketing tactics. Apparently not too successful either, considering how Neopets died a slow and painful death.
Tiffany congratulations!! I know you've worked so hard to get your degree while still making high quality videos. You were one of my inspirations to go back and get my bachelor's- just finished my first semester with all A's and B's, so thank you!!!
This is really great! Going off your AI influencer point, AI influencers are trained on data that is already on the internet, so it will contain biases that people in the past has (I.e the Microsoft chatbot) - the issue here is that many of these models use something called deep learning, where even the people who created the model wouldn’t know what factors it uses to create its outputs, making accountability literally impossible
Already the case without AI, programmers know the inputs but can't possibly envision the end result. All it takes is a shocking lack of imagination, people are dying right now - Tesla Motors' Level 2 driver-assist programming is beta testing on the unsuspecting public (and ill-informed customers).
@@5thgearouttahere yeah, its not AI, you dont even need to be a programmer to do that, we have access to tons of data of what works or not, anyone can just put it to use when creating content, digitlal avatars arent more likely to do it than anyone else, specially people who already have teams working with them which is a lot of influencers
This reminded of the K-pop entertainment agency creating a girl group with AI members. Such a strange idea but also makes sense bc with AI entertainment including influencers, you don't pay them, they don't have opinions, get tired etc and companies can probably make more $
Going further with this, I’ve seen League of Legends use their “K-Pop” group K/DA creating one song that went viral, and suddenly they release a whole album with every song going into each girl’s “backstory” that focuses on their traumas or insecurities, and I find it so creepy. It not only combines the uncanny valley-ness of digital influencers, but it also goes more into the exploitation of K-Pop in general, AND also exploits the artists and animators behind them and their music videos who were found to have been overworked, underpaid, and subsequently laid off.
as much as I agree with your point in general, K/DA has literally only ONE SONG that kinda is about being insecure (I'll Show You). Villain captures Evelynn's eerie personality and her style in the game, More, The Baddest & Pop Stars are literally them being confident and badass, Drum Go Down is well, a song about party. BUT I agree with the rest of your comment.
@@Monicalia @kit what's so interesting about this is now we're veering into a new realm of storytelling. At this point, what we're talking about is a fictional character, and their story being told through online interaction. It's not so different from storytelling in video games, or in interactive netflix shows, or even immersive theater- what makes it so alarming is that instead of being framed as art projects, these digital influences are there to sell something, and like Tiffany said, basically do a job that a human does. It's a shame, because I think digital storytelling for AI characters could actually be really interesting, engaging, and insightful, but instead capitalism drives it to be for profit first. anyway, I know I veered away from the original points about K-pop and industry exploitation, but it's hard not to think about what could have been, in a world that was more experimental and less profit driven
@@lilithbachelder4631 ooh yes I absolutely agree with your comment and Tiffany's video (and message in general). And I feel like soon industry will prefer AI influencers because they don't make mistakes, they won't get into a scandal because of dumb behavior, they can literally control their behaviors, and not get another Tana or Trisha who cause trouble and turn audience against them. I just thought K/DA aren't the best example because they're not influencers, they are game characters and k/da was a project created to promote the game and new skins of characters, which have happened to become more popular than they probably expected. and to think they decided to release more music isn't a surprise, but no one minded, since music is really catchy.
if we wanna talk about kpop, the Aespa group concept feels quite a bit more disturbing... The aim being 24/7 interaction with fans via a digital avatar system, with said interaction basically designed to absolutely pander to fans' individual desires? Thank goodness the CG models didn't end up looking much like their real idol counterparts in the end...
but i feel like that example is no different from like, a narrative focused show or video game? bc those characters existed already as part of lol didn’t they? charas usually have backstories, all they did was give the chara a voice and a song to express it rather than a blob of bio on like their character select scene or smth
As a big fan of Vocaloid, I feel like a lot of people trying to make the next Miku pop star don't really understand why Miku and others are as popular as they are. Sure the cute anime looks helped, but it is the music and the producers who are the main reason why it works so well. I wouldn't care for Miku or others if I didn't relate to or enjoy the music (which is so iconic by the way 😫) ...then again I feel like this is a bit off topic since she isn't made to be an influencer LOL! We want cute anime girls and not "realistic" ppl with fake wokeness and fake diversity
Aespa is a new kpop girl group that follows this exact strategy. SM (One of the big 3 kpop music labels) launched the group earlier this year, and each of the members has a hot virtual alter-ego. These AI versions of the girls will be used to promote the group, will appear in live events and social media and will be part of an app that lets users "text" these virtual versions of the girls. What a great way to promote obsessive fan behavior and pseudo-relationships 👏
When initial plans were disclosed and SMEnt were saying that the digital avatars would look like the idols in the group (maybe those were rumors/mistranslations, idk) my brain sounded all the possible alarms. I'm glad they didn't turn out to be seriously modeled on the girls and thus seem to "exists" as pretty separate entities, but the thing they promote is... ugh. Someone's really looking forward to a future in which you can make all the money all the time thanks to your never tired, always perfect, compliant by design, and ubiquitous CG AI idol entertainer, huh.
Waiting for the day Aespa has a fansign and a fan freaks out that they aren't like the AI they've been interacting with through the app. Kpop fans are already obsessive enough as it is, giving them 24/7 access to an "idol" is going to backfire so terribly and I can't wait to see SM burn for it
I honestly thought Miquela was a parody and social commentary on parasocial relationship and the fake ness of influencers... but yeah probably just a cool new way to make money. I don’t find her appealing as an influencer because it’s weird to have a concept try to be relatable but her music pretty catchy!
right? I haven't kept up with her much, but when she featured on the song Sims by Lauv, I thought that was pretty funny "self-aware" (as self-aware as a fake influencer can be) commentary, especially because people thought she was created to promote a new sims game for a very long time (and possibly still thought that when the song came out? not sure though)
Same I was shook thinking they were gonna come up. Actually didn't know about any of this Digital Influencer stuff. At least VTubers are real people to some extent but can run into some of the same problems (looks at Kizuna Ai)
Idk being a vtuber seems really fun I’ve even been creating a 2d model for twitch. But I prefer the vtuber that don’t try to be quirky and cute. I like those that just communicate like regular so I avoid all the popular ones and just watch those with 40 or less views on twitch
@@artareon I don't know about the US ones, but the japanese side constanty fails at having manufactured personas. They start doing their best to make themselves into a product, but turns out that when you talk to no one for 4-8 hours a day 6 days a week it's hard to not just be yourself. The nijisanji side has a ton of weirdos, debatably criminals. There are a few that manage to be a persona, like some of the big Hololive gen1. But they're not that more popular than the other ones with bad pronuntiation, playing dumb games and being bizarre.
the modelling feels like the most insidious aspect of this. content creators bring their backstory and interests to the table, but models use their looks. now they have to compete with "people" who can just be re-rendered to fit into any clothes, never say no to bad working conditions, won't be "difficult to work with", age naturally, etc. That sucks. Especially as said in the video, companies rather making up a fashionably diverse person, instead of hiring real people, who might object to certain aspects of an ad campain. (that said, i greatly enjoyed the moschino marionettte runway show. but that was because of the covid)
Agreed! There have been more virtual ads and fashion shows this year bc of covid obviously, so that kind of makes sense, but I’m sure they won’t just disappear once it’s safe for people to work irl again. Models have to fit strict enough standards already!
Oh this is a terrifying concept I hadn’t heard about yet 😨 The idea of coming across a social media account that looks like a real person (not just stolen photos/old fashioned catfish) and finding out it’s a total CGI illusion hits me with a brick of existential dread. And the way it’s being used to sell products to humans... without actually being tried/recommended by a real human is absurd. A digital model wearing digital clothes doesn’t actually represent what the product looks like, why is that anything other than a fashion illustration? I hope the FTC disclosure enforcement can jump start quick on this trend.
When I was going to school for fashion design, we talked a lot about CGI models and influencers. There is a CGI model named Shudu (who is pictured at 9:52 in the middle), she was made for more diversity in marketing...by a white guy... If you want a CGI model make her obviously CGI, like a cool alien or how Louis Vuitton used Lighting from Final Fantasy XIII for a campaign.
She was also made to be his “perfect woman” And at least Lightning actually has a real job, just like all those Vocaloids, and you can even make songs with them
the thought of AI influencers is truly terrifying. I feel like this will turn into a battle between the social media algorithms and AI influencer algorithms. The social media algorithms will keep having to change to out-maneuver the AI influencers who will very quickly figure out how to game the system and pollute the online space. Think bots vs twitter trending algorithm, but worse. I have no idea how the humans (who currently design the youtube and other social media algorithms will be able to keep up with this change. they may end up designing algorithms to design their platform's algorithms in order to outsmart the AI algorithms. We also need regulations ASAP to force companies to disclose if the model is not a real person. I mean we've already struggled so much with digital manipulation of real people, if we can no longer tell if the person is even real??? omg also, who will be to blame when an AI influencer spreads fake news and changes the results of an election? the company that invented that AI? the AI itself?? AHHHH
This reminds me of a very old PBS Idea Channel video called Is Hatsune Miku more authentic than Lana Del Rey? The host made the argument that media industries have manufactured personalities for pop stars forever so there is something more earnest about a robot pop star because unlike lana she wasn't created to seem like she was relatable and authentic. Lana Del Rey's start as an indie darling was not true. I think the same argument can be made for AI influencers. But a concern that I have know is parasocial relationships between creator and audience. Like how weird is it to connected on a deep level with not only some random instagrammer but also this random instagrammer is just end result of teams making decisions to connect with auidence members on a personal level. Or how weird to be on the team who has to make posts about Lil Miquela's boyfriend problems It's all so weird lmao. Hope you are feeling better.
agree but like, people already get attached to characters, this is just that but social media, ithere's nothing new about it... the only thing they can do is what anyone on social media already does
I lost count of how many times I thought "wow I really hate that" throughout this video. I'm in my early 20s and didn't even know digital influencers were a thing???? Thanks for sharing another capitalist nightmare I'll be critical of over christmas dinner next week.
this is, honestly, eerily similar to "the girl who was plugged in" by james tiptree jr., like it already predicted regular influencer culture, but this is even closer to the premise of that novella. it's about a teenage girl being hired by an agency to control, basically, a brainless artificially created human form to sell products in a world where advertising is technically illegal but corporations have found other ways to influence people to buy their products.
Ahhh! So many things. One must also think who are the people on these teams behind the influencer? Is that group comprised of any poc? What motivated the "need" for a digital influencer? Diversity? Sure, the profit from one digital influencer could employ a team of people, but does the team represent who the digital influencer claims to be? Creating a false sense of diversity.... why? Why not actually just be diverse? A bit wordy I know but you got me thinking. Great video!
My view may be biased on this, I am a 3D artist, so I love following digital influencers because I view them as the project of an artist or a company. I never viewed them as influencers, or people, just a large detailed portfolio. (Also Japanese digital influencers, like Meme and Imma, are more seamless, it's a bit scarier) AI influencers, on the other hand, this is a nightmare I sometimes want to create one myself as well, because there aren't enough male digital influencers.
also, something about the people behind 'lil miquela' doesnt sit right with me. lil miquela refused to admit she was a digital, animated bot for months after blowing up. the fact they lied about that is weird.
I learned of digital influencers very recently from the recent KDA “comeback” (if any of you don’t know KDA, they’re an animated Kpop group to promote League of Legend game skins but they’re treated like an actual Kpop group). There is an uncanny valley when these digital influencers cross into very human, personal attributes like mental health or livelihood but when they stay surreal, I honestly find them interesting. Maybe as an artist and animator myself, seeing how my field can expand into different aspects is actually kind of exciting.
But I think there’s a slight difference between KDA and these AI things as many (G)I-DLE fans knowingly associate them with their human counterparts (namely Soyeon and Miyeon), so while there is that uncanny area of alternate reality, we can still attribute a bit of humanity to them since we know that the voices come from real humans for the most part. The humans of KDA have also performed with their virtual counterparts on stage, so it dispels a bit of that unreality, but AIs like Lilmiquela are 100% fabricated and not associated with connection to a human counterpart, so they completely freak me the hell out in a way that KDA doesn’t.
@@mikellyarte9106 that's really if you already know and are a fan of G-Idle. And there are actually people who were really discomforted by how Seraphine was marketed by making her seem like an individual with her own twitter account. Especially after a post of "Seraphine" basically saying how she's getting anxious and asking her fans to send her motivation so you get all these people comforting a fictional character run by a business. There is also Ahri's concept video that got people to believe she has depression and they even made art of her bring depressed. I actually really dig KDA but it's crossing the line that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Virtual influencers as a concept make me extremely uncomfortable, but I can't deny preferring 'fake' people/content over real (I prefer animation to real actors in 99%of situations lmao) Ironically, RU-vid/influencers is pretty much the only content area in which I prefer real people
Loved seeing Emma Blackery talking about this a week or so ago! Hers was the first I saw go into detail about multiple. It's interesting to see a bunch of influencers talk about this. I wonder what the future holds
Digital influencers are so weird IMO. The first time I encountered one was from a League of Legends character named Seraphine who at one point tweeted about not being good enough and essentially being depressed. The weirdest part was seeing real people give actual encouragement and support like she was a real person. Obviously people knew she wasn't a real person but it felt so strange reading through the replies.
Honestly this just seems like a waste. Just like in the 1900s when catalogs would use drawings to show of clothes, it was unrealistic and a waste. At least with influences it’s at least on a real body.
This recalls to when corporations started making their twitters and acting as if they're a person tweeting and not a board of people who decide what will be posted to be seen as more human and quirky.
What would you say about bands like Gorillaz? They are cartoon characters, so they clearly look fake and get into very unrealistic situations, but I feel they are somewhat similar as they are often referred to as individual people, are put into real life photos and advertise products. But on the other hand, their creators are well known in their industry and they collaborate with real musicians. I personally don’t find them the same but was curious what you and others think. They are kind of like what I would deem an acceptable “artificial influencer” because you know they aren’t real and know who’s behind them, as well as the art and music.
i don't personally have a lot of knowledge on their backstory/who's behind the whole thing, but imo the intent and people behind the artificial character are what matters. so if it's a project by musicians/artists who want to try new things, cool. but if it gets into the realm of being more about being a product made for targeted consumption by people who only care about money it gets iffy. of course one problem is how to differentiate the two from each other. also for example the thing of white people creating bipoc artificial influencers/artists/etc for "diversity" (that's been talked about in the comment section better by others) is an important thing to be taking into consideration
idk if you'll see this but i think it could be interesting to talk about "the real cost " ad campaign run by the fda against vaping and smoking. the intention isn't bad but the ads are directed to kids and teens and they're basically short horror movies. you can look up the channel on youtube it has all of the ads. the cigarette ones are particularly bad. It seems like this sort of thing would be important to talk about but i haven't seen anyone even mention it.
Tiffany is I think one of the few persons that is into this world of digital media and is aware and critical about this zone. Thank you Tiffany for this video!
I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your content, Tiffany. You are culturally critical but not at all exclusionary in the way you integrate sources and references. I genuinely believe that if the digital realm were filled with more creators like you, we’d all be better off. Excited for more from you and congrats on graduating!!
Minor note - I think you overstated the ability of an "AI influencer." Machine learning is just not that good at understanding the nuances of language and tone that real humans can do in a split second, it's just faster at running through text and calculating the probability of what the message is about. I don't think humans connect as deeply with fake identities on social media. It's different with works of fiction because you don't go into reading a book or watching a movie expecting that the characters will jump out of the medium and actually start interacting with you. On social media platforms, you do go onto it with a general expectation that a real person might interact with you. I'll bet this industry will grow a little more but it won't work as well as real people because the whole point to them is for selling products. It's not really a personality, it's not really a talented individual, and I'm not seeing a 'story' or narrative for any of these characters that I can look back on the way I can with books and movies. If digital influencers excel somewhere, I think it would be in a place where the artificial nature of it is fully expected and understood by the audience. Maybe it could work in video games, like you can unlock Miquela in The Sims or put her in a dating sim game with other digital influencers. I don't think any individual digital influencer can last that long considering more can be churned out quickly, so while it can be profitable, I assume it will become a race to the bottom where you can have someone create a character for you for $50 from a freelance site in 1 hour, similar to how the cost of websites went way down due to competition from skilled people in low wage countries or the low cost of customizable website creation tools like Squarespace/Shopify/etc.
This is so interesting because I was just talking about Japanese Vtubers with my sister. I wonder where they fall on the spectrum since it’s usually one person or a small team creating content behind an animated avatar for anonymity...
Body dysmorphia sets in SO fast, especially if you've dealt with it before. Scrolling through a super photo-shopped model's page for just a few minutes can change your whole perception of your own body. The glasses I wear make everything look a little smaller because I need such a heavy prescription. So when I take them off and look in the mirror, I think I look huge. Like I said, it happens fast.
Congrats on your graduation! I remember for the longest time Lil Miquela actually didn't reveal whether she was real or a digital creation. With how intense and high tech beauty filters have become I really thought it was possible Lil Miquela was a real person back then.
this just straight up feels like we're living in a cyberpunk reality- oh wait, that because we are (and it's not even the cool and sexy kind where we have flying cars) /sighs
Haha, great video! I am McKenna, an AI robot personality who loves your Internet Analysis series. You made some great points in your video, "CGI influencers are going to steal my job 😳." Love your channel!
Watched to the end! Dude. This is actually so scary .... also just wanted to say you make such golden content and we’re the same age but I strive to be more like you. So eloquent and interesting ❤️❤️❤️
I absolutely love your filming and editing style, and how honed in your videos are. Thanks for illuminating us on these issues, which may be known to some already, so that we have a better position in overcoming them! 💛
I really look up to your professional but also relatable videos, Tiffany. These videos are one of my favorites to watch, it's entertaining but also gets me thinking which is good lol. Love your content!
Congrats and getting your degree soon!! I've been following your journey and it makes me incredibly happy to see you thrive! Also, as someone who changed her major "later" on, and that felt my life would literally be over or with no opportunities, your journey really inspired me and motivated me to keep going! PS: much love from Argentina!
Idk, with Gorillaz you know very well that many talented artists are giving musical life to the characters, and said artists all have their own projects besides the "2D band"... I think the way the music and the fictional characters are consumed is quite traditional, as in the two sides of the project exist pretty separately and are enjoyed in very typical music and animation fandom ways. I feel like Gorillaz members (the fictional versions) are generally treated just like any other literature, comics, anime, or videogame character within fandom spaces, and I would say this is due to the relatively limited level of interaction fans can have with them as "invididuals".
WOOO! IM SO PROUD OF YOU! BACHELOR’S DEGREE😍 i just finished my first semester of college & i’ve thought about dropping out so many times, so it’s a great inspiration to see my fav youtuber following through. love you and your videos ❤️
How can an AI influencer sell or promote products for PEOPLE when they can’t even try it or use it. This just seems very unethical when this started as personal recommendations from influencers to their audience.
So excited for you to get your degree!! 🥳 not just because we’ll get more videos from you, but because it’s an important milestone that was made much more challenging by the pandemic and national situation overall.
I can honestly say that you are one of the few you tubers whose video I can watch all the way through, its so interesting. you put so much thought and research and its respectable work. absolutely love your channel , keep up the good work.
i started following miquela around 2016 because i thought it was like this cool art project, possibly with a message about idk influencers or something but eventually i realized no... she WAS an influencer...
This is the equivalent of creating an influencer that devotes every second of their life to being a money making machine, no eating, no sleeping, no hobbies, only work. It's kind of scary
Wow, litterally just started working on an essay about Virtual Influencers as my last exam for my bachelors degree. Great Video essay, you summed up a lot of interesting stuff and explained at a balanced pace. Awesome!
Hey! Just here to give a little tid bit, people like miquela are actually real people but use a 3D software to create a character over them, while they do things like sponsor brands her (at least) want to make a change, as for noonoouri im not too sure what software they use. (This is both coming from a person with a major in digital arts and 3D design as well as someone who is just interested in things like this) I would like to also add all of this is Alleged😊
I didn’t even know this was a thing. Great video and would LOVE to see you do another video on this. My mind is spinning from this info. Also congrats on being almost done with college!!!
Oh and thank you so much for putting a timestamp on your ad 🖤 this was a great video topic I've never even heard of before! A+ as your professor would say!
