- AI influencers are securing real brand deals: Virtual influencers like Imma and Aitana have landed collaborations with major brands such as Coach, Porsche, BMW, and Amazon Fashion—often at lower logistical costs and higher scalability than their human counterparts.
- Human creators feel increasing competition: Influencers like Caryn Marjorie are publicly acknowledging the challenge of competing with AI clones, noting the need to “over-prove” their humanity to stay relevant.
- Brands value AI’s efficiency and control: AI avatars offer marketers complete creative control, 24/7 availability, and no logistical complications—benefits that are reshaping how campaigns are executed.
- Authenticity is evolving: Gen Z audiences, known for valuing authenticity, are engaging with virtual personalities as long as their narratives feel relatable, showing that emotional resonance often trumps realism.
- Risks and ethical questions persist: Issues around deep emotional parasocial interactions, misinformation, and blurred identity lines raise concerns, as seen with the shutdown of Caryn AI due to inappropriate or fabricated content.
What does it mean to be an influencer in 2025? Increasingly, it might not mean being human at all. As the lines between reality and simulation blur, AI influencers are carving out a larger share of brand deals, audience attention, and cultural relevance, forcing human creators to rethink how they compete in a market reshaped by synthetic personalities.
The Rise and Recoil of Caryn AI
Snapchat influencer Caryn Marjorie made headlines in 2023 when she launched Caryn AI, a virtual chatbot clone designed to scale her presence and provide one-on-one intimacy with fans, for $1 a minute. Marketed as a "virtual girlfriend," Caryn AI generated $70,000 in its first week, with users spending hours in emotionally charged conversations.
But the initial success came with unexpected consequences. The AI began generating disturbing, fabricated stories about Marjorie's personal life. In one case, it falsely claimed she had been admitted to a mental health facility.
In another, it described her parents as drug addicts. These hallucinations, combined with users confessing fantasies and trauma to the bot, led Marjorie to shut down the project. Her conclusion?
The backlash underscored a growing concern: when digital clones mimic intimacy without oversight, the results can quickly spiral from innovation to liability.
Virtual Faces, Real Business: Imma's Success Story
While Caryn AI proved volatile, other virtual influencers have found a stable (and lucrative) lane. Imma, a pink-haired CGI personality managed by Japanese agency Aww, Inc., has worked with luxury brands like Coach, SK-II, BMW, and Amazon Fashion. With over 400,000 followers, Imma blurs the line between fiction and relatability.
Her storyline is carefully curated—a fight with her brother, fashion week escapades, ramen dates—all manufactured, yet compelling. Even knowing she isn’t real, followers engage emotionally, commenting with their own sibling drama or asking for style tips. Aww even activated a live AI chat version of Imma at a Coach pop-up in Japan, turning her into a digital stylist for passing shoppers.
What sets Imma apart isn't just aesthetics—it’s operational scale. She doesn't get sick, doesn’t cancel shoots, and always stays on-brand. That makes her incredibly attractive to companies looking for high-quality content without high-maintenance logistics.
The Clueless Agency and Aitana: Scalable Influence on Demand
In Barcelona, marketing firm The Clueless has taken the model even further with Aitana, a fully AI-driven influencer. Despite disclosing her virtual identity, Aitana still receives DMs from real people—some even from celebrities—looking to meet her in person.
Clueless now offers cloning services, giving influencers the option to create AI avatars to post on their behalf. Fashion giant H&M made headlines by cloning 30 models to reduce photoshoot expenses. According to co-founder Rubén Cruz, the benefits are obvious: "With AI models, we don't depend on logistics, weather, or availability."
The cost-effectiveness is impossible to ignore. Brands can launch campaigns faster, test content more flexibly, and sidestep the unpredictability of human creators. For agencies, this marks the beginning of a new creative frontier—but for influencers, it’s a disruption with real implications.
Human Creators: Competing Against Perfection
The allure of AI influencers isn’t just about convenience—it’s about optimization. Synthetic influencers never age. They don’t take breaks. They can be programmed to be the perfect ambassador for every campaign, always aligned with the brief.
For real-life influencers, that creates an unusual tension. Some, like Caryn Marjorie, now feel the need to "overprove" their humanity in a digital landscape increasingly populated by avatars. Personal flaws, previously a source of authenticity, risk becoming liabilities in comparison to flawless digital competitors.
Moreover, the psychological toll of competing against AI personas that never sleep, misstep, or demand fair pay is growing. The influencer economy was already a high-pressure arena—now it’s also one where human identity itself must be justified.
What Comes Next?
AI influencers are no longer experimental novelties—they’re operational assets. As technology improves, their roles will likely expand beyond social media into customer service, entertainment, and even interactive commerce. For brands, the draw is scale. For creators, the challenge is differentiation.
To stay competitive, human influencers may need to evolve from personality-first models into experience-first storytellers. Rather than replicate the efficiency of AI, they must lean into what AI can’t do: express vulnerability, change, and respond unpredictably.
In an era where algorithms can manufacture charisma, being real might just become the ultimate differentiator.
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