The Sinister Rise of AI Influencers | social commentary video essay

What's up with the current AI influencer hype? Are they any less problematic to society than their human counterpart? Well, yes, but also, absolutely not.
/Chapters
- The Rise of The AI Influencers
- VTubers
- AI Influencer run down
- Aitana; the future of Influencers
- The benefit of AI influencers (aka. human influencers suck)
- The sinister issues of AI influencers
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If you watched the video, then THANK YOU FOR WATCHING!
This took me a bit of time to research and edit, so sorry for the late upload! Hopefully you enjoyed it!
Plz Consider the SUBSCRIBE BUTTON, haha, so I can make more videos about culture, movies, literature, art etc.! You don't have to press it, per se...but at least consider it, you know?
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/Instagram: @upintheairft.zurich (book reviews, art and films - if you like my yt content then Instagram has similar content I don't publish anywhere else)
/Twitter: @uitaftzurich (nothing really there, lol)
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/About me:
I am a 20-somethin’ y.o intellectual crackhead, who like books, poetry, and anything else I like to get into (art, films, philosophy, culture, social commentary etc.). Talking books, I like classics, literary fiction, and sci-fi, but will read anything if it’s bad-funny enough.
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/(important) articles mentioned.
- H and M study for using Kuki, Meta study - Kuki.ai (2023)
- Cole Henry, “Cynthia the Gaba Girl: A Look at the First Mannequin Influencer”, Virtual Humans (June 16, 2020)
- Angela Yang, “Parents worry AI-generated influencers are promoting unrealistic beauty standards to kids”, NBC News (21, Jan 2024)
- Makena Rasmussen, “What’s the difference between virtual influencers, VTubers, Artificial Intelligence, Avatars, and More?”, Virtual Humans (2021)
- The World’s first virtual influencer with Down Syndrome - the Diigitals
- James K. Wight, “Virtual Influencer: An Interview with Christopher Travers,” Transmedia Blueprint (2022)
- “How Lu from Maglu Became the Biggest Virtual Influencer in the world”, Little Black Book online (2022)
- Laura Llach, “Meet the first Spanish AI model earning up 10,000 euros per month”, euronews
- Elsiena ten Kate, “New Phenomenon of Virtual Influencers: the Paradox of Lil Miquela”, Salience (2021)
- r/LAinfluencersnark, Cosmiclani, “2024 the end of influencers???”, Reddit
- ParentsTogether, “Stop Fake TikTok Influencers From Creating Real Body Dysmorphia”, Petition
- Michelle Cheng, "Apple may be quiet on AI, but it's also the biggest buyer of AI companies", Quartz (26 Sept 2023)
- Kyle Chayka, "Is A.I. Art Stealing From Artists?", The New Yorker (10 Feb, 2023)
- Angela Yang, “Parents worry AI-generated influencers are promoting unrealistic beauty standards to kids”, NBC News (21 Jan 2024)
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Music used.
- Time to Move and Motivate - by The Insider
- The Insider theme - The Insider
- Vibration - by The Insider
- A Little Woozy, I Guess - by The Insider (use for the Gaba section)
- Optimum - by Eaters
- I Only Love You On the Internet - Starwood
- government funded weed - by Black Ant
- 1.26 beat1 - by BOPD
#influencer #culture #videoessay #instagram #ai #aitana #aiinfluencer #technology #socialcommentary #socialmedia #videoessay #commentary

[@UpintheAirft.Zurich]

Thanks for watching!!
AI Influencers: final form of photoshopped influencers or canary in the coalmine for AI disrupting other industries? What's your thoughts??

[@norwegianintrovert]

I'm not that big of a AI Influencer but I got like 5K Followers on Instagram!

[@rebareads]

I didn’t know about “Cynthia” the mannequin before, a fascinating example of an early attachment to an artificial brand ambassador or influencer. I definitely AI is a powerful tool and I fear we’re not using near enough caution with it… every point you brought up made perfect sense to me!

[@UpintheAirft.Zurich]

Thanks Reba! I had no idea about Cynthia either, artificial brand Ambassadors have had a longer history than I anticipated when I started researching. And yes, the lack of caution for a technology so disruptive to potentially all sections of society is deeply concerning for me 🥴

[@percyous]

this was so good! i really appreciated the included captions, im in a film class and my teacher wont stop talking about ai, we used to go out and make movies but all he seems interested in now is doing everything by himself instead of hiring people from the local community of filmmakers. its really unfortunate, i'm the only one in the class who raises concern and he expects me to do costumes for it after relentlessly telling me how my job is going to be stolen from me. anyways, this was great insight on how ai is impacting social media.

[@UpintheAirft.Zurich]

Thank you! I love captions (but maybe because I'm gen z 😅). I think it's a bit short sighted for your film teacher to champion AI. You raising concerns is a good sign, though! People like you going into the creative industry who are championing real human effort is exactly what we need 💪

[@TheLeftistCooks]

This is so interesting. Thank you for drawing my attention to this, I had no idea about any of it. - S.

[@UpintheAirft.Zurich]

My pleasure!🤗

[@improvetheword9691]

Hmm wonder if the h&m ad is memorable in the same way columbine is memorable...thw first of something is often memorable but is not necessarily distinct when in a crowd

[@UpintheAirft.Zurich]

That may be the case 🤔

[@norwegianintrovert]

Great essay, it's very entertaining! ♥️

[@UpintheAirft.Zurich]

Thank you!!

[@norwegianintrovert]

I'm here! :)

[@alexisneverhome]

love the typography!!!!

[@UpintheAirft.Zurich]

Thank youu!!

[@philippacarew1129]

Amazing essay ❤

[@UpintheAirft.Zurich]

So glad you think so! I worked hard on it 😆

[@UpintheAirft.Zurich]

Thank you so much ❤❤!