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Should we be concerned about AI influencers?

Journalist: Jon Brady, Daily Mail

ended 06. August 2025

AI influencers have made the headlines in recent days after ‘attending’ high profile events such as Wimbledon and the Oasis concerts at Wembley.

These accounts, the products of digital advertising agencies, can secure brand deals worth thousands of pounds despite the fact the people in them do not exist.

Some of them, including Aitana Lopez, also operate Fanvue accounts with suggestive or explicit adult content.

But there are concerns among influencer managers that these ‘perfect’ influencers are driving up unrealistic body standards, doing real influencers out of work and operating in a way that is both opaque and potentially dishonest - since they don't (and can't) try out a product they might endorse to ensure it is legitimate. 

Do you work in the social media/influencer space? Does the rise of the AI influencer concern you - and why or why not? Please get in touch!

4 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Marijus Briedis
Chief Technology Officer at NordVPN
As AI-generated influencers become more realistic and harder to distinguish from humans, they may be useful and cheaper for digital advertising, but they introduce a new wave of cybersecurity risks that consumers should be aware of.

Hyper-realistic avatars can be used for phishing, misinformation, and large-scale social engineering—exploiting the natural trust people place in online personalities. These synthetic figures can be controlled by malicious users to manipulate opinions, endorse scams, or harvest personal data without accountability. A famous example is AI-generated versions of finance expert Martin Lewis promoting investment scams. The lack of transparency around who operates these personas and how engagement data is collected adds further privacy risks.

Cybercriminals are increasingly leveraging AI to bypass traditional trust signals. As this trend grows, users must question digital endorsements and remain vigilant against suspicious links or offers.
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Ranald Mitchell
Director at bad credit mortgage specialists Charwin Mortgages
The rise of AI influencers is warping reality for an entire generation, it’s like the ultimate scam. We’re no longer just filtering our photos, we’re filtering out actual human beings. These pixel-perfect avatars are selling products they’ve never touched and lives they’ve never lived, while fuelling toxic beauty standards and crushing the ambitions of real young people. It’s digital catfishing dressed up as marketing. Social media giants can’t sit back and profit off the illusion, they must lead the charge in forcing transparency. If brands want to use AI, that’s fine but it must be labelled loud and clear. We regulate food labels and medicine disclaimers. Time to regulate fakery online too, before some serious harm is done.
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Rob Mansfield
Independent Financial Advisor at Rootes Wealth Management
We're increasingly living in a fake world and so it is a good idea to question what you read and see. Governments are typically behind the curve when it comes to technology and so it's on all of us to protect ourselves from fake news and scams. Social media was already full of financial tactics and strategies that just don't work in the real world. AI has amplified that and made it easier to churn out nonsense at scale.
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Samuel Mather-Holgate
Managing Director & IFA at Mather and Murray Financial
A dangerous combination of complexity and stupidity will make some people look foolish, and end in bad outcomes. However, AI influencers are just another marketing technique that agencies will adopt to sell products. As long as it is remembered that they sit on the same side as cartoons, graphics and animations, rather than humans with real and fallable views and bodies, the consumer should do thier usual research and those looking for love shouldn't try and date them!