July 23, 2024
Virtual AI influencers have found their place in our world and constantly push boundaries in creativity, innovation, and style. This has helped them earn incredible income for their creators through brand deals, ads, and sponsorships.
The most attractive trait of AI influencers is their realism. Whether their personality or appearance, AI influencers offer a strikingly familiar experience to their human counterparts.
That said, more than creating a realistic AI model is needed to guarantee success. We learned this from analyzing the top 5 AI influencers below.
Read on to find out what strategies worked (and didn't) for them. Learn how these AI influencers managed to amass millions of followers and generate insane revenue for their creators.
Not in the mood to read? Then watch the video summary below:
1. Aitana
- Aitana is a 25-year-old influencer based in Barcelona, Spain
- Known for pink hair and being a realistic AI model
- Fitness model and gamer
- Current brand deals exceed $10k
Aitana is a relatively new AI influencer best known for being impressively realistic. Just ask the men (and women) who have privately messaged her asking for her number!
With thousands of followers on Instagram and X, Aitaina has proven to be a powerhouse influencer that knows how to monetize her Instagram profile. Her content is astounding, sexy, and engaging, which is one reason why she has over 320k followers on Instagram.
The other reason is her hyper-realistic and attractive look.
Source: MikeStuzzi
Aitana captivates her audience with fashion, beauty, lifestyle, and wellness advice. She even talks about her favorite games, like Fortnite. This content has helped her reach a diverse audience and landed her some impressive brand deals.
Speaking of brand deals, Aitana earns up to €10,000 monthly (almost $11k). This is a staggering amount for an AI influencer who is relatively new to the game. A big part of Aitana's success can be attributed to her designer, Rubén Cruz, and his team at the agency The Clueless.
Rubén's agency had issues with real influencers, which affected sales and jeopardized his business. Creating an AI influencer helped Rubén gain more control over his influencer and content, allowing him to deliver content tuned precisely to his clients' needs.
Source: EuroNews
Aitana is the image only for now. We have yet to see her featured in a video. We assume that is due to her extreme realism, which limits the resources required to deliver a video that matches her current appearance.
Key Takeaways:
- Realistic AI models in the right setting and niche can deliver incredible results quickly.
- Aitana is image only, yet her brand deals are impressive. This means you can succeed by focusing only on pictures and not video, which requires many more resources.
2. Shudu
- Shudu is a South African model in her mid to late 20s
- Known for collaborating with fashion brands Cosmopolitan, Vogue, and more
- Fashion model
- Earns about £2k per sponsored post
Shudu is a digital supermodel famous for working with brands like Hyundai, BMW, and Louis Vuitton. She has been featured in Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and WWD.
With over 240k Instagram followers, Shudu continues to thrive in the fashion industry as a model. Her Instagram posts regularly feature fashion brand collaborations, in which Shudu poses with perfumes, jewelry, clothing, and accessories.
Source: Virtual Humans
Instagram isnt Shudu’s only source of Income and content. She has modeled for brands on the platforms of their choosing. Shudu can be seen clutching a Louis Vuitton bag or decked out in Ellesse in their respective promotional campaigns.
Shudu isnt the only digital model in her space. She is part of an all-digital modelling agency called The Diigitals which features more digital models similar to her. Her creator and founder of The Diigitals is British fashion photographer Cameron-James Wilson.
Source: Metaverse Fashion Council
Cameron-James Wilson created Shudu back in 2017 and has since found plenty of success with her modeling gigs and influencer brand deals. Despite her success, Shudu's creator has come under much criticism.
The biggest critiques being that Shudu is hired as a Black model while her non-black creators are the ones being paid. The creators are free to produce Shudu’s brand-friendly content without having to hire and work with Black influencers.
Cameron has responded by saying that their AI images are in fact generated from real models. So, human models are hired to pose for photo and video shoots. They use motion capture suits to create video content for Shudu.
Key Takeaways:
- AI influencers can generate income from Instagram while modeling on other platforms.
- Humans will lose modeling opportunities to AI models, which is why it helps to hire actual human models to pose for reference images during photo shoots.
3. Imma
- Imma is a Japanese AI influencer created in 2018
- Known for collaborating with other influencers and her pink bob hairdo
- Influencer and model
- Earnsover $600kper annum
Imma has been around for over five years now and continues to shine. A pure influencer who has worked with brands like Valentino, Calvin Klein, Porsche, and Nike.
We just love the fact that Imma regularly collabs with other influencers. Human and AI. These regular influencer collabs is mutually beneficial for both influencers to help build each other's audiences.
We are also really impressed with Imma's video content. Her TikTok dance and reaction videos are delightful. She appeared in a promotional video for Coach which turned out to be out of this world! Her realism and movement in these videos are incredible.
Source: Virtual Humans
Imma was created by the Tokyo-based company ModelingCafe, designed using advanced 3D modeling techniques that give her a lifelike appearance. She is part of Aww Inc, An agency that features other massive virtual influencers like Ria and plusticboy.
Imma is a virtual AI influencer that regularly attends real world events and later documents them on her socials. For instance, she attended Apple’s WWDC event to try out Apple’s Vision Pro headset.
Source: @imma.gram on Instagram
She included a clip of the event that she recorded wheil at the event. Being a virtual model, Imma obviously wasnt physically present at the event. However, a human representative was and they recorded footage for Imma’s socials.
Pretending to be physically present at events is an intriguing strategy for AI influencers. It adds to their realism and personality. AI influencers may not always look real, but their personality can certainly play a vital role in their realism.
Key Takeaways:
- AI influencers can generate income from Instagram while modeling on other platforms.
- Humans will lose modeling opportunities to AI models, which is why it helps to hire actual human models to pose for reference images during photo shoots.
4. Lil Miquela
- Lil Miquela is a 19-year-old musician based in Los Angeles
- Known for vibrant and realistic personality traits
- Musician and influencer
- Earned$10 million in 2023
Lil Miquela (Miquela Sousa) is one of the most renowned AI influencers. Since her debut in 2016, she has become a cultural phenomenon.
Being a musician and influencer, Miquela is no stranger to collaborating with brands and other influencers on her socials. She also attends live events and has interviewed human artists like J Balvin at Coachella.
Miquela may have a strong presence on Instagram and YouTube, but she is not limited to these platforms. She has worked with brands like Prada, Calvin Klein, and BMW. Her BMW iX2 promotional video is outstanding!
Source: Gosee News
The success of the BMW x Lil Miquela collab has allowed her to work with more brands that have created similar stunning videos of Miquela using their products. Her latest collab with MSI spawned another viral video for her and the brand.
Like Imma, Lil Miquela attends real events and later documents her experience on her social media. She recently was in Las Vegas for the Super Bowl and recorded a ton of content for her Instagram account.
Unfortunately, she wasn't allowed to party at any of the clubs that evening because she was only 19. Here's a post of her being all bummed out because she wasn't old enough to party in Vegas clubs.
Source: @lilmiquela on Instagram
A rather strange topic to create content on, but it has an element of realism that appeals to many. It's possible that her creators, Brud, will want to build upon this realism and make Miquela more interactive and immersive in the near future.
Key Takeaways:
- AI Influencers perform well in branded promotional videos. However, producing a high-quality video requires huge resources unless the brand hiring your AI influencer consumes those production costs.
- A popular strategy is to attend live events and offer an interesting perspective on them. Associating a virtual model with a real-world event adds to their realism.
5. Noonoouri
- Noonoouri is a 19-year-old fashion influencer from Germany
- Known for her cartoonish looks and large eyes
- Fashionista and pop star
- Earnsover $550k per annum
Noonoouri is a stylish virtual influencer who first appeared on the scene in 2018. This virtual model and fashion lover appeared in Skims, KKW Beauty, and Dior campaigns.
Created by German graphic designer Joerg Zuber, Noonoouri is characterized by her large eyes, petite frame, and chic fashion sense. After being deeply integrated into the fashion industry, Noonoouri joined the modeling agency IMG, famous for representing Gigi and Bella Hadid, Jordan Dunn, and Candice Swanepoel.
Source: IMG Models
Noonoouri isn't just a fashion icon. She loves singing and producing music. Her tunes are heavily featured on her Instagram feed. Her most recent endeavor was the music industry with her debut single "Dominoes."
The success of her debut single landed her a record deal with Warner Music. Just like her famous fashion collabs, Noonoouri has already collabed with other music artists like Allan Farbe and Enisa.
The future is bright for Noonoouri with plans to grow along with advancements in AI and digital tech. Her singing career can continue to thrive with virtual concerts and interactive experiences like virtual meet and greets.
Key Takeaways:
- Realism isnt necessarily a must. Cartoonish AI influencers can still function as models while also building a career on specific skillsets. In Noonoouri's case, she applied her singing skills effectively to develop her career in the music industry.
- Video plays a massive role in Noonoouri's success. Especially Reels on Instagram. Earlier efforts focused more on images and creative videos that put together a collage of Noonoouri's pictures. More recent videos have Noonoouri physically interacting with real humans as she sings and dances or models for the camera.
More AI Influencers That You Will Love
We brought you our top 5 favorite virtual AI influencers. However, the list continues. So many more AI influencers, virtual musicians, and digital fashion models are out there.
Here is a short list of a few more virtual influencers that are presently making waves online:
- Lu of Magalu - The most followed AI Influencer with over 30 million fans across all her socials. @magazineluiza
- Thalasya - Indonesian AI travel influencer. @thalasya_
- Nobody Sausage - Internet personality and musician. @nobodysausage
- Guggimon - Designer toy turned AI influencer who worked with Fortnite, Gucci, and Paris Hilton. @guggimon
- APOKI - Korean virtual music artist who is popular on YouTube and TikTok. @imapoki
TL;DR: Top AI Influencers
- AI influencers are incredibly popular online. Some of them have millions of fans on Instagram alone.
- Image-only AI influencers still manage to do well on platforms like Instagram and Twitter by landing excellent brand deals. This means you can start with image-only AI influencers on a low budget.
- Video influencers require more resources, such as animators and computing power, for video rendering. However, the video does perform well on social media and allows for faster growth.
- Modern AI influencers have found success modeling for high-end brands and creating engaging content like high-quality promotional videos and advertisements. This helps AI influencers generate massive incomes for their creators.
- Some AI influencers have received scrutiny for taking jobs that real humans would have occupied. Creators should keep this in mind and perhaps hire real models to help with the motion capture.