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https://theconversation.com/ai-generated-influencers-a-new-wave-of-cultural-exploitation-248956>
"You probably know what an “influencer” is — people with large, highly engaged
social media followings who have the power to sway beliefs and purchasing
decisions.
But you might not have yet heard of virtual influencers.
They’re like human influencers … but they’re not human. They’re characters
brought to life by CGI and AI, designed to target demographic groups from a
first-person perspective.
Virtual influencers are becoming more popular and prevalent every day. A
full-blown industry has sprung up around them — an industry with agencies and
companies dedicated to creating and managing them, with some of the top
personas earning millions annually.
But our guest today has noticed a troubling pattern — many virtual influencers
are crafted as young women of colour. And their creators are often men with
different racial identities who work at marketing agencies.
Jul Parke is a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of
Information specializing in social media platforms, digital racism, virtual
influencers and AI phenomena. She is currently a visiting scholar at New York
University.
Parke’s doctoral research explores what motivates companies and creators to
produce these virtual, racialized women, which she says is a new form of
commercializing gender and racial identity in digital spaces."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
