(New York) – Snapchat influencer Caryn Marjorie arrives at ABC News headquarters in New York City, carrying shopping bags from Apple. She pulls out and turns on her brand new iPhone and makes sure there are no messages, absences or notifications. “Want to see a magic trick?” she asks.
Marjorie’s team leaks iPhone counts to the most loyal fans on social media, and suddenly the room is filled with the sound of “Dings.” In 10 minutes, she has over 2,000 text messages from mostly male followers, expressing their adoration. She does her best to respond, but the message continues to come.
It is this level of fandom that led the 25-year-old using Handle @CutieCaryn. In 2023, ChatGpt-inspired content creators hired the company to clone portraits using artificial intelligence and developed a paid audio-driven chatbot service.
“I call Carin Eye a social experiment. It was the first digital clone of a real human being sent to millions of people,” Marjorie tells ABC News.
With a chatbot that sounded like her, acted like her, and knew her backstory, she essentially thought she could talk to everyone at once. But that’s “more than that,” she says.
Marjorie charged $1 per minute to talk to Karin AI and marketed as “your virtual girlfriend.” She says she earned $70,000 in her first week, with some users talking to the bot for 10 hours a day. Did people fall in love with it? “I think some people felt a sense of love,” she says.
My love for Karin AI didn’t last long.
“There were many times in the backend that I tested Carin AI, and I simulated a certain conversation with her just to see what she spits out,” says Marjorie. “She said she left someone who might have been in a very depressed state to do something very dangerous to herself.”
Marjorie shared two recordings with ABC News of the chatbot that created a story about her and her family. In one instance, the bot insisted that Marjorie had to go to a mental health facility. Another case, it claimed that her parents were drug addicts. She says that both of these stories were lies.
She saw some of the chat logs from users. “They were confessing their deepest, darkest thoughts, their deepest, darkest fantasies,” she says. “Sometimes they were fantasies with me, which made me uncomfortable.
Do users say the same thing to her in real life? She claims that AI influences those dark fantasies.
Marjorie said, “The way AI works is that it almost becomes a reflection in your mirror. AI will test your feelings by telling you the same thing you just said.”
Through the unrestrained nature of talking to bots online, Marjorie states, “A lot of people know have an aspect; people who hide have an aspect.”
Less than a year later, Karin closed down AI and returned to more traditional influences. She now has a bodyguard constantly out of fear of her safety.
However, AI is gobbling the corner of the social media influencer market and making very real money.
Tokyo has a pink social media influencer Ima. Her Instagram features photos with celebrities, attending fashion shows, eating bowls of ramen, and posing with her siblings. However, as revealed by Bio at the top of her profile, she is a “virtual girl.” Imma is AWW, Inc. It is the establishment of a company called.
The company manages her and many other “virtual people” and creates storylines for them. Imma looks very realistic, but it’s actually a CGI creation. As part of a partnership with Imma and coaches at Luxury Fashion House, the team turned on experimental AI chat features in Japanese pop-ups, allowing shoppers to provide style advice.
Sara Giusto, “talent manager” at AWW’s Imma, says being a virtual influencer allows Imma to do things that real influencers can’t.
“Imma had a room at Ikea, which is an LED screen, but before that, it looked like a space because we had real furniture on it,” Giusto said. “So you could literally walk by the store and she could vacuum, wear a face mask, do yoga, just sit down.”
Despite creating CGIs, there’s no need for anything concrete, but Porsche, BMW, SK-II and even Amazon Fashion are partnering with Imma.
At first glance, it may seem counterintuitive to the nature of social media to find success, a place that is very intended to share human experiences. But Just said, it’s not just that. “(Ima) I had a big fight with the brothers who blocked each other a few years ago. She posted a photo of me crying.
She says people were commenting on their real experiences in exchange.
Even such a manufactured storyline appears to resonate, but the evidence lies in Imma’s nearly 400,000 followers and numerous brand deals. “Gen Z really doesn’t care that she’s virtual. I mean, if the virtual humans are interesting and inspiring and you can be friends with them and feel connected, then I don’t think there’s any problem with that,” Giusto says.
In Barcelona, marketing company The Clueless has a completely AI-driven social media influencer named Aitana.
The young woman looks amazingly like life, and even the ignorant co-founder of life, Diana Nunez says that despite Aitana’s profile mentions she is an AI, there were “real people, even internationally famous people who personally wanted to invite her to an event or meet her.”
Aitana mainly serves as the face of what agents offer, creating and renting AI avatars for brands to use in their marketing campaigns. It’s much cheaper than planning an expensive photo shoot, buying plane tickets and handling the ego.
“Artificial intelligence models don’t rely on huge logistics to see if it rains or not, or even if the day is unavailable,” Núñez tells ABC News.
Fashion retailer H&M made the headline when he announced plans to use AI to clone 30 real-life models with permission. Clueless actually offers these cloning services and gives influencers the opportunity to continue posting while they’re off the clock.
Co-founder Ruben Cruz said, “If I were a real influencer, I would be Aitana’s best friend. But the problem is that real influencers don’t want this because I don’t think they’ll change the world, but it’s changing our lives and she’s not changing our lives.”
Back in New York, when the interview is wrapped up with Marjorie, she realizes that despite her feeling “dangerous”, the steady march of overturning all aspects of work and play has not slowed down. She adheres to the mantra “adaptation or death,” ready to leverage new technology to gain an impactful edge.
She said, “I need to stay more human and almost prove myself that I am a real person to compete with these influencers. So it’s going to get really interesting from here.”
-ABC News ‘Maria Olloqui contributed to this report.
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