The Spanish influencer agency we reported about last week, which is raking in the big bucks after designing a gorgeous AI model to use in Instagram posts and various social media campaigns and sponsorships, has offered yet another reminder of the degree to which artificial intelligence is taking real work away from people, in increasingly creative ways. That agency, for example, turned to its digital creation — a pink-haired young woman who’s amassed 175,000 followers on Instagram — after it decided that working with real-life influencers was too expensive and just too much of a pain overall.
“We did it so that we could make a better living and not be dependent on other people who have egos, who have manias, or who just want to make a lot of money by posing,” The Clueless founder Rubén Cruz said in an interview with Euronews. What’s more, you’re going to see a lot more of this kind of thing on Instagram very soon, if you aren’t already.
In fact, check out the photos below, taken from the Instagram accounts of four currently active influencers with big followings on the platform. They range from your garden-variety influencer to a stunning-looking supermodel. There’s a good chance you’re already following a cyber creator on social media without even realizing it, and here’s an opportunity to test your ability to spot them.
Can you pick out which of these Instagram influencers are real, and which ones are fake, AI-generated personalities? I’ll start you off by telling you there’s at least one of the latter in this bunch (and you can scroll to the bottom of this post for the big reveal).
Miquela (@lilmiquela on Instagram)
Miquela is an influencer from LA who has 2.7 million followers on Instagram. Her bio includes the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag, and she’s worked with major brands like Dior, Prada, and Calvin Klein.
Shudu (@shudu.gram on Instagram)
Next on the list is Shudu, a woman who looks like she stepped right out of the pages of Vogue. She’s a wow-inducing supermodel who boasts 241,000 followers on Instagram.
Aitana Lopez (@fit_aitana on Instagram)
Aitana is an influencer from Barcelona whose bio explains that she loves gaming, fitness, and cosplay. Most of the money she makes comes from social media ads, although she also recently signed on as the ambassador for a sports supplement.
Imma (@imma.gram on Instagram)
Last but not least, we come to another influencer with a huge audience on Instagram (just shy of 400,000 followers). Imma lives in Tokyo, has her own fashion brand, and explains in her bio that she loves art and film, which are also among the subjects she posts about most often on her account.
Separating the real-life influencers from the AI creations
Okay, now it’s time to identify which of the above influencers are real, and which ones aren’t. This probably wasn’t too difficult of an exercise, but you never know — one or two of them may have tripped you up. As I mentioned above, there’s at least one AI-designed influencer in this bunch, which includes:
- Miquela (@lilmiquela)
- Shudu (@shudu.gram)
- Aitana Lopez (@fit_aitana)
- and Imma (@imma.gram)
If you guessed that all four of those young women are AI-created influencers, then congratulations: You are absolutely correct. And, really, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. This is certainly the kind of thing we can expect to see more of, especially as ChatGPT’s abilities continue to grow by leaps and bounds, blurring the line between what’s real and what’s artificial to the point that none of us can really be sure anymore.
