Could the Influencer You Follow Actually Have Never Existed?

Metaverse Planet

December 24, 2025

AI-powered influencers, whose numbers are increasing day by day in the social media world, have become the new favorites of brands. Experts explained the massive economy behind these tireless digital characters and the future awaiting their human rivals.

While scrolling through your social media feed, you might not realize that the flawless-looking model you see actually never existed and consists only of codes. Artificial intelligence technology is no longer satisfied with just performing data analysis; it is becoming the “new face” of brands in every field, from advertising to cinema. Digital avatars, in particular, seem to be candidates to shake the throne of human influencers. These digital characters, who never get tired, never get sick, and are ready for content at any moment, are opening the door to a new era in the marketing world.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ömer Aydınlıoğlu from Sivas Cumhuriyet University states that the opportunities offered by this technology are exciting but bring serious risks along with them. According to Aydınlıoğlu, AI influencers attract intense interest from brands because they can handle a job that would take a human days in mere seconds.

More than 400 digital phenomena are among us In this new generation marketing approach, the biggest trump card of avatars is that they are completely customizable. A brand can create its dream character from scratch, and this character never goes outside its creator’s instructions. Research shows that there are currently more than 400 active AI phenomena worldwide, and this number is increasing rapidly. Moreover, these digital assets are not just images; they interact with followers, answer comments, and achieve interaction rates that rival their human colleagues.

“It can mimic emotion but cannot feel it” So, are these digital assets a threat to the human workforce? Aydınlıoğlu thinks it is too early to worry about this. Because the biggest weakness of artificial intelligence lies in the “emotion” part, which is the cornerstone of the human spirit. While human influencers can blend an experience they live with their emotions and convey it sincerely, digital avatars remain quite artificial at the point of emotion transmission. These computer-generated entities perform far behind humans in making sense of and making one feel a situation.

Although the fact that artificial intelligence is controllable seems like an advantage, this situation can turn into a major disadvantage in a possible crisis moment. While humans can analyze the situation and give flexible and sensitive reactions when a crisis occurs, artificial intelligence struggles to manage such complex processes.

Moreover, when the security dimension gets involved, the picture becomes a bit more serious. Digital avatars have a structure that is quite open to cyber attacks or malicious manipulations. A technical glitch in the system or a malicious intervention carries the risk of causing irreversible damage to the brand image. Although humans can get tired and make mistakes, their reliability in crisis management is still far ahead of artificial intelligence.

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