Somewhere in the Frankenstein-like laboratories where computer scientists bring to life the latest marvels of AI technology, programmers are hard at work cobbling together a whole new species of social media influencer. Mightier than any human creator, able to cut through internet clutter and engage users like never before, it could turn out to be the most powerful marketing innovation in the history of online advertising.
And it’ll look just like … you.
In recent weeks, Meta and Snapchat have each unveiled functions that turn users’ selfies into AI-generated avatars. This itself isn’t particularly groundbreaking — there already are plenty of stand-alone sites that transform uploaded photographs into computer-generated renderings. And neither Meta (which calls its AI avatar feature “Imagined for You”) nor Snapchat (which calls its product “My Selfie”) are being hugely forthcoming about what they plan to do with the technology, beyond eventually allowing users to amuse themselves by seeing what they’d look like, say, twerking on the moon or performing other improbable stunts. Still, according to marketing tech experts, there may be a lot more going on here than new ways to goof off on the internet.
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“When you boil it down, [Facebook and Snapchat] are basically advertising delivery systems,” explains Arun Lakshmanan, who studies online commerce as an associate professor of marketing at the University at Buffalo. “What’s being sold on these platforms is user attention and the opportunity to persuade users. And these avatars could become extremely compelling persuasion devices. There’s ample research that indicates when you see yourself using a product, it reduces barriers to purchasing that product. It’s why there are so many advertisements using ‘regular’ people — paid actors dressed up like regular folk — because consumers think if a product works for them, it’ll work for me. Only now, the people in the ad won’t be like them, they’ll be them.”
In other words, we may soon be entering an era when we all have digital doppelgängers following us around the internet trying to sell us stuff. In some ways, of course, we already do; it’s why that Old Navy sweater you clicked on for two seconds keeps popping up every time you go online. Only what might be popping up in the not-too-distant future — at least on Facebook and Snap, for starters — are hyper-realistic virtual doubles supercharged with AI’s awesome processing power, armed with yottabytes of data about your purchasing history (among other intimate details of your online life), harassing you until you finally hit the “pay” button and order that damn sweater.
Of course, there are other potential uses for AI avatars, beyond extremely personal shopping, some of which sound a bit less creepy. “It could be anything from asking your AI avatar to make a list for the grocery store or scheduling a meeting with a friend,” suggests Kai Gayoso, who oversees digital strategy at Range Media Partners. “There are all sorts of menial tasks it could help with on a day-to-day basis.” But, he cautions, it’s important not to overdo it. “You don’t want it to replace all human interaction,” Gayoso adds. “There’s the danger it could create a confirmation echo chamber, where everything you say is celebrated by an army of your avatars who do nothing but support whatever you’re thinking. You could end up going completely unchecked and told you’re right 100 percent of the time. That’s not good for anybody.”
This story appeared in the Oct. 9 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
