Other creators are cloning themselves with AI to boost their output. Last summer, leading Chinese live streamers Luo Yonghao and Xiao Mu both used AI creator digital twins of themselves to complete a six-hour stream on Baidu e-commerce platform Youxuan, selling consumer electronics, food, and other consumer products, according to reports from CNBC. The session drove $7.65 million in revenue, more than the duo’s previous stream, which they had actually hosted.
This use case presents an opportunity for creators to optimize their revenue. “It’s important to understand that human influencers and AI influencers are not competitors,” says The Clueless’s García. “AI influencers are just a representation of what human influencers could do if they decide to adapt to a digital world by using a clone of their persona (which is already happening), allowing themselves to rest while taking more opportunities simultaneously.”
Replacing real talent
While he’s betting big on the Zelu sisters, Mikulic doesn’t feel that AI creators should or could replace real-life talent. “A real-life creator brings personal presence and authorship, which remain extremely valuable. A digital character works differently. It allows a brand to develop a clearly defined identity, a controlled visual language, and long-term continuity around a character that can extend across campaigns and formats without losing shape.”
The controlled language element is important, Robertson adds. “[AI creators] don’t go off-brief, they don’t burn out, and they can be adapted instantly across markets. That makes them particularly effective for product-led content, where the goal is clarity and repetition, not necessarily depth. But their strength is also their limitation: they work best when they’re being used as a tool, not as a substitute for a human.”
The Goat Agency is finding that the rise in AI content is only increasing appetite for human content and connection. “The foundations of influencer marketing lie in trust and peer-to-peer recommendations. An AI influencer, whilst intriguing, cannot have real human emotions and experiences, so it makes their recommendations hollow. AI is helping to augment speed, creativity, and agility when it comes to content creation; however, this is only supplementing the work that human creators are doing.”
Over 50% of content creators already use AI to generate new assets, including images and videos, while 55% use AI to edit, upscale, and enhance their content, according to research from Adobe. “Where we are using AI is behind the scenes, in ways that drive efficiency rather than shape the creative,” says Buttermilk’s Robertson, like automatically resizing content for different platforms.
Fanvue is a subscription-based AI creator platform that operates similarly to OnlyFans. AI creator Lopez is on the platform and is one of many creators pulling in thousands of dollars per month from subscribers, who pay for content and messages, according to a report from Fortune.
“We see AI influencers as a key part of the future creator economy,” says Harry Fitzgerald, Fanvue co-founder and COO. “AI creators are lowering the barriers to enter and express their creativity via AI avatars without necessarily having to be the face, and therefore, the technology is democratizing the creator economy, making it more accessible to more people. This technology works well for new content creators because it helps them to get started in a booming industry and be part of something truly revolutionary.”
