Digital Doppelgangers: The Rise of AI Influencers

Julien Redelsperger: And I'm super happy to welcome Ilya Rosman, with over a decade of experience. He advises businesses on leveraging AI for growth and innovation, and he also owns an AI-based influencer agency. So today, we will discuss AI-generated influencers: how to create them, what they do, and what they are used for. Thank you for joining me today. How are you, Ilya?

Ilia Rozman: Hi Julien, how are you? Thank you for having me here.

Julien Redelsperger: Sure, my pleasure. I'm doing good, thank you. So, Ilya, maybe we can get started by, you know, just going back to the basics first. Could you please explain to us what an AI-generated influencer is?

Ilia Rozman: Okay, so first of all, an artificial intelligence influencer... um, it's a bot, a robot that operates in a digital life, as the future is really close to us. So, actually, what's happening right now is we are able to "dress" the bot, we are able to provide a face and a body, whatever we choose, and to create a digital influencer who can engage, promote, and create storytelling or any other task that a person can do.

Julien Redelsperger: Okay, so basically it's like a bot that looks, behaves, and answers questions like a human.

Ilia Rozman: Yes, exactly. That is the main purpose: to make it as human-like as we can.

Julien Redelsperger: Okay, and what's the process behind it? How do you create an AI-generated influencer, from, you know, the first idea, like the concept, to the execution?

Ilia Rozman: Okay, so first of all, um, I will just give, um, my example of my first creation ever. So first of all, when I understood that I was able to "dress" an AI as I wanted to, um, it was first of all, about the idea. What will be the uniqueness of this idea? Because, you know, to create a woman or a man and to dress them in a regular way, and to make them not unique, it's not interesting, and eventually, there will be no engagement with it. But when it comes to unique ideas, and when it comes to doing something good with the idea, I think this is the point when you start to be creative. So my first idea was, when I saw a lot of orders coming through me with a lot of women and, yeah, AI models that are usually regular, I understood that I was able to do something more creative. So I opened and created the first AI influencer who has Down syndrome. Um, she's a Brazilian girl whose main purpose is to create awareness for Down syndrome. This is the main purpose of this idea. I thought that if I can try to do something good with an AI influencer, then when I see engagement and when I see a lot of, um, traffic from it, I will be able to do whatever I want with my ideas. And the test was amazing. Um, we started first with a picture, a regular face, and, um, it was like a couple of days of controlling this face because we wanted some uniqueness because Down syndrome has some uniqueness in the face and has some, and different, um, usually different, some, um, characteristics to the face. So it was, um, like three days of working to create something similar with the eyes, and after that, after we were able to create this, it, it was like a couple of days of creating the social media accounts and putting her on automation. And then after three and a half months, we already had around 28,000 followers. Louisa has TikTok, Louisa has Facebook, and Louisa also has an Instagram. She is acting very, very much like a human being. And the most important idea behind this is to provide... um, you know, when it comes to a lot of health issues, and when it comes to, um, problems that are related to health, a lot of people are starting to be very closed off, very shy. And I wanted to break this, to, to show that also Louisa, who has Down Syndrome, she is dancing and she, she is going to the, to the beach and acting as a normal person. And after like a couple of months, she was already boosted by big magazines and already boosted and interviewed by a lot of podcasts, um, because the idea was really creative. And after that, it's only about building more and more with creative ideas.

Julien Redelsperger: Okay, but just to recap, you were the one to decide, like, you chose a Brazilian, you chose a girl, you chose like pretty much everything about her personality, her style, etc.?

Ilia Rozman: Yes.

Julien Redelsperger: What kind of tool did you use?

Ilia Rozman: No, um, the first, um, tool was LoRa. This is a model that creates a face. And we started to enter some images of people with Down syndrome. And then we started to make some similar ideas. After that, it was generated by Cling or by any other video generation tool. We worked, we worked in the beginning with a lot of face-swapping, and because the, the tech, the step of the video creation was first of all face-swapping, then after it was like Cling and Runway, and all this stuff that we can create from a picture and a moving scene.

Julien Redelsperger: Okay. And, um, was it difficult for you to create that influencer at first? Because I do believe that you have other influencers that you created after the first one. So how difficult was it for the first one, and, and, and, and how easy maybe was it for the others?

Ilia Rozman: Yeah, I think it's like, oh, I think it's like all the things that you do the first time; they are, um, like, a struggle, and it feels like an effort. But after I understood that it was working, and I saw that it was actually moving, it was like riding a bike, because when it comes to generating more and more work, and creative work, and my ideas are not finished. So I always have daily ideas that are related to how to make this world a better place.

Julien Redelsperger: Okay. So you told me before the show that you once created for one of your clients, 500 AI influencers. So why would someone need 500 AI influencers? Question number one. And, and how do you scale creativity like this? Because at the end, I mean, they shouldn't all look like pretty much like each other.

Ilia Rozman: Okay, so this comes down to a very specific job. Um, the order was made by, and, by a person that travels a lot in the world and makes a lot of income, and, from a lot of streams, yeah. His request was 500 models that would be related to OnlyFans and related to Fanvue. This project was, um, the first project that we were taking to create this stuff. Again, this is something that we decided to do only because of the amount, because the amount was, and, very unusual and very unique, and this is why I took this job. So, the creation of these 500 models was, we took each country around the world and tried to create it based on that narrative. It was like, I think, three hours for a face, and, yeah, um, for, um, um, after, like, yeah, no, no, no, for one face, and, yeah, um, we, as a specific job, we were making, and, really, and, real results, and this is why we were focusing on creating the best thing that we can create. And after we created the first 10 models, we were putting it on full automation of creating these images. So it was, um, when it comes to something that I am creating by myself, like, for example, if it's an email that I'm sending, or if it's just something that I am creating, like, and, an engagement, daily, or something like that, um, today I'm working, like, 98% of my, and, streams are on automation. And then, when we, when we understood that creating images is the same thing as creating a post, it's only something that we need to supervise, it was much, much, much less, and we were focusing on only the results, to see the results and to approve, and after that, that's all.

Julien Redelsperger: So on which channel do you interact with these AI, um, creations? Is it like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube? How do you choose the right channels, and, and how many channels are they on?

Ilia Rozman: Yeah, okay. So when it comes to providing a real life to the influencer, my, and, my basic approach is to put it on as many social platforms as I can. So, as of now, TikTok, and Instagram, and Facebook, we can create an API from it and connect it to Make and create it to, to fully automate it. And this is why I use these three methods. And the most, um, engaging platform that we now see is Instagram with the AI influencers.

Julien Redelsperger: Okay. And do your audience on Instagram, for example, know that they are interacting with an AI influencer, and, and, and should they know?

Ilia Rozman: I think should they know? Yes, of course. This is the first thing, to explain what it is. I think, I don't think... my, all influencers, I have like eight influencers that I own today. And these private influencers are all, in the bio, are written AI influencer or AI robot. And I think this is why also I didn't get any strike or suspension or any other restriction from any, from any other platform. So yes, we are always explaining in the bio that this is an AI. Because, you know, today a lot of people are not very familiar with AI, and to talk with a robot and to understand, eventually, it's not a person, it's not... I don't know if it's like, if you, if you want to talk with a person and you talk with a robot, eventually it will be not really cool for me, so this is what I thought.

Julien Redelsperger: Why do we need, um, AI influencers? I mean, we already have human influencers that are pretty impactful. And, why do we need AI influencers? What's the unique value they bring on social media?

Ilia Rozman: Okay, so first of all, it's a property, an online property. Um, today, we, if we are connecting with an AI influencer, with a human AI influencer, they are taking from us a payment for a gig or for an order. And that's all. Eventually, we're like, if we are taking them to a contract, or so, and this is not our property. Um, an AI influencer who we build for our businesses and for our platforms, this is eventually an online property that can generate also, um, money, and, like, if they can get monetized, or if they get, um, more, like, engagement, eventually, and, they can be another stream of income. So you don't pay, um, for an hour, you don't pay for a gig, you are paying for a property that stays with you, with the company, with the story, and provides you 24-hour engagement. If you want, you can put it on three posts, you can put it on 10 posts, and you can put it on 24 posts, whatever you will choose.

Julien Redelsperger: And from the people's perspective, why do you think the followers like to talk to a bot? Because they know it's a bot. They know it's an AI-generated influencer. So why do you think they engage with the bot?

Ilia Rozman: Um, to be honest, like, in the beginning, I was, like, really hilarious about this, that people are connected with a bot and starting to talk. But when I eventually understood, um, why it's happening, I think most of the, the reason why they're talking is because they need to talk with someone. And when they are looking at a beautiful face or an attractive person, they are starting to talk. And they are starting to ask where are you from, and how old are you, and so on. So I think, and, first of all, we always have someone every week or every two weeks that is explaining by messages, by private messages, that it's a bot and it's an AI for awareness. And then, yeah, and this, this is the main thing that I saw a lot of cases that people are trying to, to maintain a relationship or something like that, but, you know, you can't control this, but eventually it's something that is for a business, so we are doing this as authentically as we can.

Julien Redelsperger: And so how do you decide about the tone, the personality, or the values of an AI influencer? Do you have a specific formula, or does it change based on the request of your client, for example?

Ilia Rozman: Okay, so first of all, I will give an, um, an example. I think, and, I have my other influencer, um, that she is from India, and her name is Maria, and she's the first AI awareness of cancer sickness. And what, with this specific tone, it will be relative to India, to all the clothes to India, and try to be as authentic as we can. I try to maintain the country and the religion as much as I can with the symbols that I know. And if, and if I have, like, more questions about the narrative, you know, we always have the ability of asking AI to provide us with more and more authentic and more and more creative ideas.

Julien Redelsperger: But does that mean your influencer speaks the language of the country they are based, like your Brazilian influencer should speak Portuguese, your, I don't know if you have a German influencer, she or she, he or she should speak German, etc. Or is it all based in English?

Ilia Rozman: All based in English. The decision was, um, until now to create this in English because I think the global world right now on social media are more likely talking in the English language. So this was the decision.

Julien Redelsperger: Okay. Okay. But aren't you afraid that the conception you have, for example, of an Indian girl would be different than the reality?

Ilia Rozman: Yes, of course, there are always, um, there are always, and, things that we don't think about. We are, like, you know, we are people, and we are not a robot. So we always have some things that another person can show us and tell us that, look, and, it's not looking the best, or it's not looking authentic, or so on. But we also need to understand that as of today, and, AI artificial creation of images and videos are not 100% like the premier results that you can find. Yes, we have crazy results. Yes, we have really authentic results. But once again, there are people in the world that can show us and teach us more.

Julien Redelsperger: Something I noticed, um, on AI-generated influencers, yours but not only yours, of course, that it's most of the time women. And most of the time they are what I call hypersexualized. Um, have you noticed that? And could it be a problem for societal perceptions of women?

Ilia Rozman: Okay. So first of all, we need to understand that we are living today in a very, very, uh, progressive, uh, reality. So it means that even a player that was in the NBA, a woman player, after, like, um, meeting OnlyFans, she, she told, by interview, that after one year, she was making more money than in all, uh, in all, um, her genre in the NBA. So yes, a lot of women are more attractive. Women are more attractive by face, by body. And this is how it comes from the 19s, and from the 80s, and from the 70s. The models were more women and not men. The fashion was more focused on women and not men, because the most, I think the most beautiful creature from men and women, it will be a woman. This is how it goes. So it's naturally will focus on more generative on email, on, on influencers that are related to a woman. We have also a way, and I'm sorry that I'm cutting you. It's also, we have also a male influencer, but it's a special, specific niche, a specific thing that we took to. I think the engagement will be much more harder with a man, and, and if it's a woman.

Julien Redelsperger: Yeah, no, that's perfect because that was my next question. Have you ever created a male influencer? I mean, AI-generated influencers? And do you see any difference in terms of engagement or the type of discussion that the people might have with the women, with women versus with men?

Ilia Rozman: Okay, so our male influencer was created for a specific company and a specific niche. It was created for a financial company and a specific niche in this financial company. And the engagement is less, but it means that we need to focus on more, uh, value in this post, in this engagement with these communities. Because in the financial world, if, and, our influencer can create news, daily news that's related to finance, it will be much more interesting to follow him. So the focus in men will be the storytelling and what value he can provide more. The, the effort in women will be the, the creative, the face, the face, the moves, the, the body, all the stuff.

Julien Redelsperger: Okay. So when you have, um, an AI-generated influencer online, men or women, and you need to give them life, you need to, to have them interact with you the audience. So that means you have to create content, a lot of content, I guess. um How do you do that? And how complicated or challenging it is?

Ilia Rozman : Okay, in the first AI influencer that we did, it was by natural, organic management. I was entering daily and creating posts that I was copy-pasting from ChatGPT. And the pictures and the, um, in the beginning, it was only pictures, and after that, we were focusing more on videos. But, um, after I think like two months, we already started to see how much Make can possibly help us with automations. So we were creating engagement posts by automation, and when it comes to numbers, it's only by quantity. So it was like, today it's like I can enter more and more, and I don't even focus my time on it. So it's really, really enjoyable to see how the future will look like.

Julien Redelsperger: Okay, so if I understood correctly, you are using Make as an automation platform to connect, like, ChatGPT for content creation to, like, Instagram, um, for sharing the content.

Ilia Rozman: Correct. We have followers, um, and we have been followed by a lot of people that were showing us how to work in big automations, and we understood, um, fast, really fast, how to create these templates. And eventually, when it comes to an already-made template that has already been working, it's something that you can copy and paste, and you can, something that you can upgrade and by your specific needs.

Julien Redelsperger: Okay, so we live in a world that is flooded with digital content. Um, how do you make sure that AI influencers cut through the noise and feel authentic? Why do you think they have more followers than I do? And, and anyway, it's, it, why does it seem so easy for them and maybe more difficult for human influencers?

Ilia Rozman: Okay, so first of all, we need to understand, this is a machine. A machine works by demand. It means that, and, today, um, big companies in the world are creating like 12 until 20 posts per day. So if we will take an influencer and we'll put it on such automation, eventually, the content and the pictures and the videos will get spread, and it will get spread to a lot of things daily. So it means that if I created 10 posts that are working for 24 hours, these 10 posts can create a lot of engagement. So take these 10 posts, and imagine what will happen, you know, um, after two months; it will be a crazy story. So we are seeing influencers starting with zero followers and getting to 20,000, 30,000 and higher in I think two, three, four months. This is the time frame.

Julien Redelsperger: Okay, wow. Okay, okay. What, what do you think will be the future of influence? Um, do you think human influencers are at risk?

Ilia Rozman: I think who will be, and, the future will be, it's all about avatars and digital, digital creation. And, we are already seeing this, that a lot of influencers also create an avatar of themselves, and creating viral engagement content. So it means that if they are starting to work less, and if they are picturing themselves less, and if they are talking less, so it means that they're saving time, enormous time. So if the influencer who has so many followers in the beginning as a human being, and eventually creates some, something, something, and unique, and I think it will be only a benefit.

Julien Redelsperger: Okay, when you create an AI influencer, do you have, um, um, um, do you have, um, ethical guidelines that you follow? And I'm, I'm, I'm also thinking, you know, for AI influencers that are targeting vulnerable audiences, like teenagers, for example, do you, do you have some strong guidelines in terms of what you should do and what you shouldn't do?

Ilia Rozman: Yeah, yes. The first thing, we are not creating by ourselves any nude or any content that is going to OnlyFans or something like that, to Fanvue or so. We're focusing on creative stories and ideas. This is our goal. We are creating engagement and branding and marketing for companies with these unique ideas, like, what, let's, let's, let's say an example, let's say a big company creates 20 influencers, from kids to, um, to teenagers to adults, and all of them are creating the same company hooks. So it means that if we take these 10 influencers, I, positive by 100%, it will be a huge stream of income to this company. And when it comes to, and, how we are focusing or, or trying to not make these new things, um, it's all about, like, we, we can create these new things, but it comes also to a work that we will focus on this. And this is not our main purpose of the agency. The agency was created only to create awareness for things that are important in the world.

Julien Redelsperger: Okay. What's, what's the fastest time that you've gone from an idea to a fully functional AI influencer? Um, I believe you told me it could be just a few days. Is it really as quick as just a few days?

Ilia Rozman: Our fastest creation was Emma, a USA fitness influencer, and it was, I think the social and the post was from the idea, I think it was like 48 hours.

Julien Redelsperger: 48 hours. Oh my god. Okay. And is she still alive today? She's still, um, online?

Ilia Rozman: Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. I think she was passing the 20k followers. She's like two months old. Yeah.

Julien Redelsperger: Do you see any legal issues on the horizon with this type of AI creation? Um, should there be some type of regulation when we talk about AI influencers?

Ilia Rozman: Um, yes and no, because we, we never know what, oh, people that don't need to mess with it can do. We never know what crazy and bad ideas, um, people can create. And this is why maybe, and, there is a need for this type of creation. But once again, um, when it comes to AI, as of right now, we don't see any, anything related to it.

Julien Redelsperger: Okay. And, and maybe my last question for you would be to understand if you ever find yourself getting a little bit too attached to one of your AI creations. Do you sometimes feel like, wow, you, you, you gave life?

Ilia Rozman: And, to be honest, um, yes. To be honest, yes, I'm, I really, I really feel connected with my creations because these are my ideas. And after this whole couple of months that was a success for me, because I understood that a lot of companies and a lot of, um, famous magazines, um, connect with me and started to ask about this, so yeah, I am attached to it because it's, it's something that changed my life. Because I was in the e-commerce society, I was making money online from online shops, and right now I am creating money from ideas. So it's, it's really like a game-changer for me. So yes, the answer.

Julien Redelsperger: So it changes your business, it changes your lifestyle, I guess, and the way you work now.

Ilia Rozman: Yeah, yeah. By, but I think by 100%.

Julien Redelsperger: Okay. All right. Good to know. Well, thank you so much, Ilya. So at the end of each episode, the guest answers a question posed by the previous guest. After that, you'll have the opportunity to ask a question for the next guest. Are you ready?

Ilia Rozman: Yeah, I'm ready.

Julien Redelsperger: Cool. So here's your question, courtesy of Shanil Ebrahim, who is partner at Deloitte Canada, National Life Sciences and Healthcare care consulting business. We can listen to his question right now.

Ilia Rozman: Okay, so, and, the answer, yes, because I think if artificial intelligence can bring us more value to our lives and to maintain our oldness and to create our lives with our kids more than what they are right now. So yes, I think the answer is yes. And, um, about the unlimited life, and, I think that it's really, really far from us, but yeah, I, I think that if it, if it will be possible, it can happen. So maybe, um, it will be, and, and, I think it will be the end of our world because eventually we will need a couple more global, like couple of... Okay, the question is...

Julien Redelsperger: Okay, perfect. So now, um, yeah, what question would you like to pose for the next guest?

Ilia Rozman: Um, artificial intelligence as an influencer to businesses, healthcare, and other companies. If it's something that will be forever or it's something that will be only like a timeframe that soon it will be over.

Julien Redelsperger: Perfect. Thank you, Ilia. It's been an absolute pleasure speaking with you today. Thank you for joining me.

This transcription was generated by an artificial intelligence tool. It may not be 100% accurate and could contain errors and approximations.

‍