Creators of AI influencers program deep backstories, 'personalities'

AI influencers are sweeping social media with fictious backstories and made-up narratives about jet-setting lives. They join the AI singers and "artists" whose content peppers feeds across TikTok, X, Instragram, and other platforms. Advertisers are now making up their own.

"We used to do campaigns [with humans]," creative director Andrea Garcia at AI ad agency The Clueless told The New York Post. "This is different. [With humans] you have limitations based on time and how often you can redo a photo. There is no margin for error. With AI we can make changes very easily."

That company created "Aitana Lopez." Her social media bio lists her as a "Virtual Soul" and gives her "she/her" pronouns. She's an ambassador to to one brand and her management is listed as The Clueless. Others are listed as a "digital storyteller" or "Influencer-AI." 

New AI models are popping up all the time. A Christian "soul singer" turned out to be AI, and the song generated for it topped the charts. Another app allows users to "text with Jesus." Still other AI's allow users to roleplay pregnancy, marriage and romance. Use of AI has also been found to reduce critical thinking skills.

Ad companies no longer have to contract with models, they can just create their own AI models and build out ad campaigns around them. Aitana has been used in advertising for Amazon and fashion brands Calvin Klein and Prada have also used AI influencers. So has YouTube and Samsung.

Garcia said Aitana's backstory has been painstakingly put together and speaks of the AI influencer as having been "birthed" through their own proprietary software program. The amount of information put into Aitana's narrative is extensive, Garcia said.

"We enter all kinds of information about her," Garcia said. "We put in details about her childhood, what she likes to do during free time, favorite movies, her nemeses when she was little."

Of course, she was never little, she's never been to school, never had an independent thought, and never taken corporeal form. "Her favorite food is pizza," Garcia said, "and her first concert was to see an orchestra. Her father likees classical music."

One post on Aitana's Instagram shows her dressed up for New York's ComicCon. "I stepped into New York and New York ComicCon 2025 was the stage," Aitana's post reads. "Me, as always, the main character. What do you think of my Tomb Raider cosplay?"

Not all the commenters seemed to be aware that she wasn't a real person. Users said "UR beautiful" and "You should play as Main Character in the next movie for sure. Beautiful Cosplay."

The Aitana AI influencer trend, however, is only growing. Aitana is expected to be able to hold conversations with fans, for a fee, through the Fanvue platform. For Garcia, Aitana feels like "a daughter." 

While fans have been receptive to the AI influencers, who post pretty, real-life pics from high-profile places, there has been some controversy, such as when one AI posted about having leukemia. Obviously, the AI did not have cancer. It was being used, however, to promoted a bone marrow donation org.

AI influencers may be used to replace real life actors in longer form content, too, as the software improves and audiences become used to seeing replicas of human beings on screen. The creators of the AI influencers are undeterred by these concerns.