This article is part of the Future of AI, a collectsion of articles that investigates how artificial intelligence will impact the fashion and beauty industries in the years to come.
Aitana Lopez is a Spanish influencer with almost 400,000 followers on Instagram, who regularly posts fitness and style content, and has worked with brands including beauty brand Llongueras, accessories label Golden Concept, Amazon Spain, and gamer lifestyle brand Razer. On the face of it, Lopez is similar to many macro-influencers, with perfect skin, symmetrical features, and long, pretty hair. But she is not real. She’s an AI creator, generated by AI platform The Clueless in 2023.
“Aitana began as a social experiment, in which we wanted to understand what brands and audiences were looking for,” says The Clueless creative director, Andy García. “We created several profiles that followed different trends — and social media phenomenons — and she was the one that worked the best [in terms of engagement].”
Virtual creators are not exactly new. Since the launch of virtual influencers Lil Miquela and Imma in 2016 and 2018, respectively, who went on to appear in campaigns for labels like Calvin Klein and Coach, Replica Handbag Store Business has been reporting on the rise of digital influencers. But today, as use of AI has hit the mainstream, hyper-realistic AI creators like Lopez, which are indistinguishable from polished real-life creators, have proliferated online. Over 1.3 billion videos have been labeled as AI-generated on TikTok to date. And many AI creators are failing to label their content as AI, which can boost engagement by misleading consumers, prompting TikTok to automatically identify and label AI-generated content. Some creators are completely AI-generated, others are hyper-realistic digital twins of existing creators (deepfakes) operated by the creators themselves, or by people stealing their likeness, and some are real creators using AI to alter their appearance or the setting.
Teen retailer Pacsun has announced a multi-season partnership with virtual creator Miquela in a bid to continue its exploration of identity in and around the metaverse.
“There’s an argument that AI or virtual creators will become commonplace, but we’ve had Lil Miquela since 2016 — and their role has remained relatively niche rather than foundational,” says Lucy Robertson, global head of marketing for creator agency Buttermilk. Typically, these creators appear sporadically as talent, rather than influencers selling product on social media. Lil Miquela appeared alongside Bella Hadid in her Calvin Klein campaign, while Imma appeared alongside TikTok star Khaby Lame for Boss. “The difference now is that AI has quietly become part of the everyday. Instead of replacing real creators, AI creators are more likely to exist alongside them — just with a different role to play.”
That role is still in question. While it brings the benefit of speed and consistency, there remains serious reputational risk to working with AI in general, as we’ve seen with recent backlash against AI-generated campaigns from Gucci and Valentino, and AI models used by Levi’s. And while brands including Boss, Valentino, Prada and Coach have experimented with virtual influencers like Lil Miquela and Imma, who are visibly digitally made, luxury labels are yet to meaningfully engage with the new breed of hyper-realistic AI influencers, like Lopez, that are appearing on our feeds.
“Deepfakes are often avoided entirely [by brands], while AI creators are leveraged for more creative-led approaches, where it is very transparently evident that it is an AI creator,” says Bryce Adams, head of US influencer at leading firm The Goat Agency, referencing the likes of Imma, who has cartoon-like pink hair and non-human skin. “We find that AI creators often produce lower-than-average engagement rates compared to human-first content and cannot serve as ‘trusted voices’, instead being relegated to creative adaptations or extensions of a broader brand campaign.”
Always-on characters
Zelu House is an AI creator platform that operates two AI creators, ‘sisters’ Ana and Mia Zelu. They have 312,000 and 254,000 Instagram followers respectively, and many of their posts have garnered high share and save numbers, as well as likes and comments, according to Zelu House managing director Pero Mikulic. For example, Mia Zelu’s fall outfit carousel, posted in October 2025, reached 18.8 million views, with 56,200 saves, 13,200 sends, and 886 reposts. Ana’s fall outfit carousel, posted a month earlier, reached 46.1 million views, with 43,800 saves, 9,888 sends, and 1,000 reposts.
Like virtual influencers, AI influencers are created by a human, but increasingly, their behavior, like commenting or engaging with other profiles, is automated based on machine learning. Not only do the two Zelu creators post images from across the globe, from Oktoberfest to Coachella, the Australian Open to Rome, at a cadence which would suggest each has a virtual private jet, both Zelu sisters respond to fan comments and comment on each other’s videos, with eerily realistic comments like “I am stealing this bag when you get home.”
Zelu House has already worked with several brands across both its talents, founder Mikulic says. The studio does not disclose clients, but Mikulic says the work has spanned areas such as “global sport, luxury accessories and national consumer brand campaigns”.
The Clueless launched the aforementioned AI creator, Lopez, in July 2023, with the aim of generating AI creator personalities across different cultural niches. “AI has allowed us to change the way we enter into the creator economy — instead of having a personality try to fit into a niche, we analyze the niche and create a personality that authentically belongs to it and responds to its needs,” García says. “This allows us not only to understand the market and become bridges between brands and audiences, but also to accurately participate in communities, basing our whole personas in data.” This means, technically, a brand could create an AI creator that aligns exactly with its world, if it wanted to engage.
Many AI creators’ comment sections are populated by other AI creators, suggesting smoke and mirrors around the actual engagement these virtual talents are driving. But The Clueless claims 70% to 80% of its creators’ followers and interactions come from “real people”, so its creators can drive real engagement for brands. The rest comes from other AI accounts and bots.
AI creators like the Zelu sisters and Lopez can interact with followers 24/7, via chats that have the influencer’s personality. As the comment section becomes prime real estate for brands and influencers, this consistent creator contact can significantly boost engagement and loyalty. “This doesn’t usually happen with real influencers because they are not able to do all the work that needs to be done to achieve this level of engagement,” Mikulic says, “simply because they are not machines.”
Virtual recommendations for real-life products
The recipe for success for the Zelu sisters, Mikulic adds, is that the creators stay as close as possible to real life, thanks to how the AI is programmed. “The settings are recognizable, and the voice and humor feel close to how people their age actually communicate, rather than something more constructed,” he says. “Just as important is the relationship between Mia and Ana. They are sisters, and that runs through everything: the captions, the comments under each other’s posts, the small interactions that make a feed feel more like a life than a campaign.” Both creators have “AI influencer” in their bios to signal they are not real.
But when creators are hyper-real and are not labeled as AI, it raises ethical concerns. Social platforms are working hard to crack down on unmarked AI-generated content, and amid audience fatigue around AI slop, TikTok is working to implement a control feature that will let users choose how much AI-generated content they want to see in their For You feeds, in addition to existing tools like keyword filters and the “not interested” button.
Consumers are already wary of AI and skeptical of real-life influencers who are being paid to post for brands, so it’s unlikely they will be receptive to brands using AI creators to shift products if the creators are clearly labeled as AI. Still, it’s challenging for platforms to catch all unlabeled AI-generated videos and creators, as the technology becomes more sophisticated. Consumers can believe a person is trying on an outfit or beauty product, and follow their lead under false pretenses. “AI works well when it’s showcasing a product, but the moment it shifts into recommending one, the dynamic changes,” says Robertson. “If something feels human but isn’t, where does that leave trust? The line between what feels acceptable and what feels misleading is still being drawn in real time.”
The biggest risk is not simply that AI creators exist. It is that they can contribute to a lower-trust environment if consumers can no longer tell what is authentic, says Amber Venz Box, co-founder and president of influencer shopping platform LTK. “That affects the entire creator economy because trust is what drives influence, conversion, and long-term brand value. When feeds feel overly engineered or synthetic, people look for proof. They want to hear from someone who actually used the product, wore it, tried it, and can speak from experience.”
Many of the AI creators I encountered while researching this story conform to hegemonic beauty standards, with very little variation in ethnicity or body type. “AI creators are fully controlled; they can flatten nuance, or unintentionally reinforce stereotypes or unrealistic standards if not handled carefully,” Robertson adds. “And then there’s saturation. As more AI-generated content enters the feed, there’s a risk that everything starts to feel overly optimized and less interesting.”
As AI is pulling from existing images and data within the internet, for AI creator companies, there is also a risk of copyright infringement. “The [real-life] influencer world follows a system of copying: everyone’s doing the same spots, same outfits, same travel locations, same photo-styles… AI influencers are not allowed to do that, because we’re always under scrutiny,” says García. “We are very careful of how we produce our images, usually taking the team’s camera roll as inspiration. The challenge is to create relevant and trendy content from our own perspective in order to avoid scrutiny.”
Keeping up with the algorithm
For real-life creators, AI is an increasingly powerful tool, not just operationally but creatively. As seen in Kylie Jenner’s recent Instagram post, featuring the star atop a white horse against a pink sky in the garden of her Palm Springs home, creators are increasingly using AI to enhance their content, with generated scenarios or outfits to help them create consistent, fresh ideas. Jenner’s post was well-received. But using AI in response to the pressure for fresh content can backfire.
Tatiana Elizabeth is a US-based creator with over 350,000 Instagram followers. Last month, someone DM’d her a photo of herself from the 2024 US Open. It had been posted to mega-influencer Lauren Blake Boultier’s Instagram feed and featured Elizabeth’s body, outfit, and setting, but with Blake Boultier’s face.
Blake Boultier said she had employed an agency that said it specialized in agentic-powered content to help her create content, from product shots, marketing materials, and ad content, for Hydra and her personal brand. The agency would deposit images straight into her Google Drive for her to select from. But she didn’t know that the platform was pulling source imagery from Pinterest and replicating other creators’ content to create her posts. “It is a real and documented risk with these systems that I should have been more aware of,” she tells Replica Handbag Store Business. “As an entrepreneur, that kind of ‘high-output, low-friction’ setup felt like the future. It was supposed to let me stay focused on growth while the production logistics ran in the background,” she says.
“As a creator, what I share is tied to real experiences, so seeing that line blurred felt uncomfortable,” Elizabeth wrote in an email to Replica Handbag Store Business. “It’s not just about one image, it’s about setting a tone. There has to be some level of accountability and transparency, especially when you’re presenting something as real to an audience.”
This incident is particularly concerning, as AI edited a more prominent white creator’s face onto the body of a Black creator with a smaller reach. But it is just one of many cases of influencers finding AI-generated versions of themselves or aspects of their photos online, as more and more AI agencies are employed by other creators to generate or enhance content and help them keep up with the relentless pace of today’s algorithm.
The advantage it gives creators and entrepreneurs is too significant to ignore, Blake Boultier says. “What’s changed is my definition of responsible use. You can outsource execution, but you can never outsource accountability. If your name is on it, it’s yours. Period,” she says. “My advice to creators: stay in the details. Know where your agency’s source material comes from and never get so comfortable with the workflow that you stop asking questions. Let’s push for real industry standards…right now there’s no framework protecting our likenesses from being used without consent.”
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 claritys 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. 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.”
Lopez is one of the biggest AI creators on Fanvue, sharing exclusive content, behind the scenes, of her big passions like gaming, travel, and fashion. “Tools on Fanvue, like AI-assisted messaging, can help creators send personalized replies to every last one of their fans, making them feel valued and acknowledged. This higher perceived intimacy not only keeps fans subscribed but also increases their willingness to support and pay for content. Adoption of these tools is driving commercial success for creators,” Fitzgerald says.
Another place AI creators can drive resonance is in giving the public access to individuals or scenarios they otherwise wouldn’t be able to see. Last year, TikTok users became obsessed with street videos of people in different historical periods, from the 1500s to the Tudor times. These AI-generated videos allowed audiences to access a scenario they usually wouldn’t be able to, and as The Goat Agency highlights, many of the comments said this was a positive use of AI: “People hate AI until it starts making content that’s funny and indistinguishable to human-made content,” one user wrote on a video of a man being interviewed on the streets of Tudor Britain.
TikTok content
This could be a good use case for brands, Adams says. “AI can be used for educational purposes for brands to bring history to life,” Adams says. “Not posing AI creators as current real-life consumers or brand fans but, taking the public back into time to showcase the heritage of the brand or cultural moments that current consumers may have missed.”
The future
While many are skeptical of AI creators, everyone interviewed for this story agrees that AI will help boost the creator economy as a whole, looking ahead, via enhancements and operational efficiencies. That’s where the true potential lies.
“I think human creators will use AI to further their IP,” Adams says. “I could see mega-creators creating AI avatars, almost like cartoon characters, that will allow them to tell more stories to audiences they wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. If human creators are adopting certain tools to create longer-form content that is AI-led, I can see that being looked upon favorably.”
The future of the creator economy, Venz Box explains, is not less human. It is more human, supported by better infrastructure. “We are building an AI-native company, but our focus is on using AI to empower creators, not replace them,” she says.
Robertson agrees that AI won’t kill the creator economy, but it will change what holds value within it. “What we’ll likely see is a clearer split. On one side, AI-led content that’s efficient, scalable, and product-focused — useful when the goal is simply to reach over quality. On the other hand, human creators — whose value will only compound as AI becomes more commonplace.”
Put simply, for Zelu House’s Mikulic, “the strongest brands will understand when they want a person, when they want a character, and when the two can sit alongside each other.”
