Great influencers use their personal taste, experiences or expertise to inspire trust, which is why they have historically been so valuable to brands. But in the age of hyperrealistic generative AI, that exchange of credibility is under threat.

Meltwater and YouGov’s research shows just 28% of consumers consider generative AI acceptable in influencer marketing. By comparison, 47% accepted its use in product advertising and 53% in entertainment content, making influencer marketing one of the least accepted uses of the technology we surveyed. That skepticism is understandable now that the line between a real creator and a synthetic one has become harder to see.

Lifelike, AI-generated influencers now appear in testimonial, product demonstration and haul videos advertising seemingly real products. Images of real public figures can be manipulated to make it seem as though they endorsed something they never touched. In many cases, viewers may have no obvious reason to suspect the person they are watching isn’t real.

This is a very different scene from the chic wave of virtual influencers that hit social media feeds just a few years ago. AI-generated models like Lil Miquela and Shudu combined fashion-world aspirationalism with tech-world innovation. Their artificiality was part of the appeal, allowing brands to experiment with new forms of storytelling. Followers knew these accounts weren't human and engaged with them anyway.

Today, AI influencers have become easier to create and harder to detect, blurring the lines between experimentation and deception. That puts more responsibility on brands to make the role of AI clear before audiences have to figure it out for themselves.

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