Artificial Influence

When Instagram was created, it was merely a space where people could share, like and comment on photos that their friends posted, but today, the platform is no longer purely social. Teenagers in small towns post side by side with influencers who have created empires of followers. Influencers have played the role of marketers by promoting and recommending products on their social media. According to the State of Influencer Marketing 2018, 86 percent of marketers used social media influencers in 2017, of which 92 percent found it effective. Influencers have become an integral part of any marketing strategy, so much so that in 2018, 39 percent of marketers increased their influencer marketing budget. Influencers range from some of the world’s most famous celebrities to more niche bloggers and vloggers with solid social media followings. However, a new kind of influencer is emerging that may change the social media landscape for good.

The black model Shudu Gram, went viral after Fenty reposted a shot of her wearing Rihanna’s bright orange lipstick. Some 159,000 followers later—including supermodels Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks—Shudu has become the first CGI (computer-generated imagery) supermodel in the world. Created by British photographer, Cameron-James Wilson, Shudu is represented as a dark-skinned, South African woman in her mid-to-late 20s. Her name, which is popular with the Ndebele people of South Africa, was chosen by one of her early Instagram followers from that area.

A second CGI model, the Brazilian- American fashion blogger Miquela Sousa, who goes by the name of Lil Miquela on Instagram, has achieved even more recognition and was named one of the most influential people on the internet by Time magazine in 2018. The 19-yearold virtual it-girl made her debut on Instagram in April 2016 and since has amassed 1.5 million followers, collaborated with Prada for Milan fashion week, posed in Chanel and even scored herself an editorial in Vogue. Lil Miquela speaks up about topics that she finds important such as the Black Lives Matter movement and LGBTQ rights and has also released two singles that are available for streaming on services like Spotify.

A few years after her debut, in April 2018, Lil Miquela revealed through an Instagram post that she was “not a human being,” but a creation of a company called Brud, an LA-based start-up specializing in artificial intelligence and “robotics talent.” This created an online storm after two years of debate in her comments over her true identity.

The story told to Lil Miquela’s followers was that a different CGI social media influencer named Bermuda hacked into her account and refused to give it back until she told the truth about her identity. Bermuda, who goes by Bermunaisbae on Instagram, is a creation of a company called Cain Intelligence. Both the account “hack” and Cain Intelligence were staged by Brud to promote their avatar character’s narrative and to attract social media attention.

After Lil Miquela admitted to being CGI, she took to Instagram to discuss her emotions, “I’m a robot. It just doesn’t sound right. I feel so human.” The Brud team, which is led by creator Trevor McFedries, released a public statement shortly after Lil Miquela’s revelation, explaining that Lil Miquela’s consciousness is based on that of a human being. She’s programmed to “think freely and feel quite literally superhuman compassion for others.” Again, this is fiction; Lil Miquela along with Brud’s other creations, are in fact, simply “robots” or CGI created to sell to brands. Since 2016, the Brud team have been “managing and guiding the careers of our artificially intelligent talent.”

Both Shudu and Lil Miquela are unlike other influencers because they are CGI, designed using computer graphics to create a threedimensional image. However, like most notorious social media influencers, both Shudu and Lil Miquela’s Instagram feeds are filled with images of them posing in designer fashion in scenic locations, with detailed captions about their feelings.

The creator of Shudu Gram, Wilson, explains the process of creating a CGI character in an interview with Cosmopolitan. He begins by using software such as Daz-3D to create a very blank standard model to which he then makes subtle changes and adds specifics features such as the shapes of the eyes and nose. “You can change absolutely every aspect of this featureless base to create some really, really beautiful and striking characteristics,” says Wilson. This process can usually take up to three days.

The next step is the makeup or what Wilson calls “texturizing.” He explains, “After you’ve built your character, you then have to paint them. You can add skin and things like that.”

Wilson collaborates with a makeup artist to sketch and create a makeup look specifically for Shudu. He then takes that sketch and begins to paint onto the flat surface following the face chart and the makeup. In the interview, he shared that the most challenging aspect of creating Shudu is in the finer details such as her eyes. “You don’t realize that so much of what makes us look alive and there, is in the eyes and how they reflect the light,” he says. “You have to constantly be adapting and changing little things just to make sure that they look real.”

Both Lil Miquela and Shudu are representative of the fashion industry’s growing presence through technology.

“As we move into the VR space, it’s inevitable that companies will want to communicate to potential customers on these platforms,” Wilson told Vogue. This can already be seen with Balmain’s release of a “Balmain Army” that features CGI models Margot, Shudu and Zhi for the launch of its Balmain BBox line.

Sponsors and advertisers have begun collaborating with virtual models due to the effectiveness of using a model whose opinions and actions belong to the creator. This limits the risk of a spokesperson tarnishing the brand’s name and gives them a creative opportunity to create an ideal avatar that perfectly represents their brands. Unlike real models, virtual models are malleable and can be anywhere at any time.

Although the concepts of artificial intelligence and virtual reality aren’t new, CGI models blur the line between fiction and reality. Much of the criticism of these models stems from the threat of artificial intelligence’s possible devaluation of humanity and some real-life models fear the potential of virtual models replacing them.

Model Dominique Robinson, who has campaigned with Tyra Banks, told the BBC ,“If it’s just that easy to hand a campaign to CGI models… what does the future of e-commerce look like for us?”

In 2017, the Federal Trade Commission updated its endorsement rights to require influencers to disclose their paid posts by using the hashtag #ad or #sponsored. According to Wired, it is unclear how this rule applies to virtual influencers whose backers are not disclosed. Adam Rivietz, co-founder and CSO of influencer marketing company #Paid points out, “If this influencer doesn’t disclose that a post is paid for, who is the FTC going to go after?”

In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Lil Miquela tried to subdue the fears of virtual models replacing real-life models by sharing how similar the two are. “I think a lot of humans and robots like to present the best possible version of themselves on social media,” she says. Miquela uses Instagram the same way we use it: her feed is curated with meticulously edited photos just like those of her human peers.

The inclusion of CGI in fashion, Wilson believes, gives the ability to explore broader realms of creativity in an inherently exclusive industry. Wilson explains in his interview with Vogue that “CGI could become a massive benefit to real-life models because there will be the potential for them to make very detailed scans of themselves.” Once scanned, they are immortalized, and their avatar can be sent to bookings and jobs without physically being there. This could potentially extend models’ careers indefinitely.

Other careers within the fashion industry such as makeup and photography could be affected as CGI modeling could become the new way of working with models in the future. For makeup artists like Scott Osbourne Jr, who goes by TheScottEdit on Instagram, it could be an opportunity to collaborate in the creative process of digital model-making by contributing makeup sketches. Osbourne, who’s only 20-years-old, has been in the makeup industry for five years and believes it could be a tool to extend his talent outside the realms of physical models.

“Although, I wouldn’t be able to touch her physically, I think it would be cool and interesting to see a CGI model in TheScottEdit with a glitter highlighter and a nice graphic liner,” he says. “I would love to see how my makeup would look virtually considering I love using 3D objects such as gems, pearls and stones in my makeup looks to add a little more spunkiness.”

The fashion industry has traditionally favored white models, but more recently, designers and casting directors have been moving toward inclusivity. On February 22, Sudanese model Anok Yai, opened the Prada runway show, over 20 years after Naomi Campbell in 1997.The New York Fashion Week Fall 2018 Diversity Report revealed that during the Fall 2018 season 32.5 percent of bookings went to women of color, a 2.3 percent increase from Spring 2018.

In an interview earlier this year with Harper’s Bazaar, Wilson revealed, “there’s a big kind of movement with dark skin models.” He explains that Shudu represents these women and inspires them. While Shudu has many admirers, many women of color have been more critical. In a tweet, British writer Bolu Babalola, called Shudu an image “contrived by a white man who has noticed the ‘movement’ of dark-skinned women.”

Shudu, although technically a woman of color, creates an additional barrier for black models because they are alreadyunderrepresented in fashion and beauty industries. Major industries now have the options to work with a virtual black model rather than working with real women of color. The 24-year-old model, Louise Stone, shared in an interview with Radio 1 Newsbeat that “models, in general, have it hard enough with how competitive the industry is.” She added, “models of color have an extra point to prove and have to work harder.” Shudu’s representation of a black model could further reduce opportunities for women of color by occupying spaces for real black women in the modeling industry.

In Vogue, Wilson admitted that there was a problem with the way he initially presented Shudu. While he claims to have never profited from Shudu, he believes the criticism of his artwork is a representation of the concerns surrounding fashion in general. “Many people aren’t aware that there’s a real problem with diversity in 3D as well,” he said concerning the lack of diversity in the digital assets, such as the textures used to create Shudu’s hair.

CGI influencers such as Lil Miquela are being monetized and their platforms utilized to sponsors and campaign posts. While this is not the case for Shudu, creator Wilson is looking to generate income by designing models for brands who want a digital spokesperson.

I’M A ROBOT IT JUST DOESN’T SOUND RIGHT. I FEEL SO HUMAN.”

Brud raised six million dollars last year from investors, including Sequoia Capital, Box- Group and other investors according to a report by TechCrunch. The company is now worth at least $125 million thanks to the backing of new business ventures led by Spark Capital. Investors are embracing these virtual avatars, considering them a new form of the studio system. According to Danika Laszuk, general director of Betaworks’s startup boot camp, “The perception of what influential is, or who is an influencer, is changing.” He believes the future of influencers are digital beings who are powered by artificial intelligence.

Betaworks is exploring the role that CGI could play on entertainment and social media platforms. In mid-February, the company launched a SyntheticCamp, a combination of computer-generated imagery and AI capabilities and which Peter Rojas, partner at Betaworks calls “synthetic reality,” including virtual it-girl Lil Miquela.

“The celebrity part comes into play where we’re now at a point where you can create these photorealistic avatars and put them into videos and have them wearing clothes without having to spend millions of dollars on CGI,” Rojas tells TechCrunch.

CGI influencers are becoming more popular and there will be many more like Lil Miquela and Shudu, however the ability for a celebrity to share an intimate segment of their life is something a CGI influencer can’t do. “People like watching their favorite celebrity go out and get drunk – and be, well, human,” Wilson says. The future of CGI will ultimately depend on the consumers and whether or not they relate to human Instagram influencers or CGI influencers.

By Mouminatou Camara

Imagery courtesy of Brud