A new development in the world of social media influencers has just made things a whole lot more interesting, or a bit unsettling, depending on how one looks at it.
SheerLuxe, a top UK lifestyle magazine, introduced to its Instagram followers an AI-generated editor by the name of Reem who specializes in fashion and lifestyle matters. This feels like the tipping point for seriously pushing what's acceptable in the influencer space.
Of course, I have an issue with creating a fake person suggesting things to real people. Then again, the use of AI to enhance your content or for back-end processes is something different. Basically, putting an AI as a team member is a different matter. To me, that is deceitful, even if SheerLuxe didn't mean to be.
This backlash from the fans does not surprise me one bit. People follow influencers because they are relatable,
that personal touch.
No matter how advanced an AI gets, that cannot be replicated.
And I'm scared this trend might lead to even further, heightened unrealistic beauty standards and expectations in fashion.
What really ticks me off about this is the decision to make Reem a person of color. I cannot help but feel that, that may be a misguided attempt at diversity. Why create an AI persona when one could have actually sought out voices that are diverse and given opportunities to real people? It feels like a shortcut that misses the real point of true representation.
I do understand SheerLuxe's quest to innovate and try to be ahead of things; in a fast-changing media landscape, companies need to adapt. Definitely, in this case, they have missed it. Innovation at the expense of authenticity and human connection is something that should not happen.
That said, I can see the reason some might view this as an exciting development: AI brand ambassadors that could theoretically offer 24/7 engagement and personalized recommendations at scale. However, I don't think it is enough to tip the scales on significant ethical issues.
I do believe we need to hold serious conversation regarding the place of AI in media and especially within influencer marketing.
Where will we draw a line between usefulness and acts of misleading?
How can transparency be guaranteed when AI goes more deeply involved in content production?
The apology and clarification by SheerLuxe are very positive steps, but I think much more can be done. Where they really insist on experimenting with AI, at least from the very beginning, they should admit it. Maybe there is a way to integrate AI assistants devoid of parading them as real people.
This has got me thinking about the future of journalism and media: are we going to be flooded by computer-generated personalities across all of these platforms? I hope not, but it does feel that way, the inevitability that more of our media will come through AI.