Mashable: From Kyra to Lil Miquela, what to expect?

Of the many countries now focussing on virtual influencers, India, too, has joined their tow with Kyra, the country's first CGI model. While the concept has been around for a while, the first influencer to make her debut in recent years is Lil Miquela. Each company has given these characters a unique look and back story to appeal to the country's audience. For instance, Shudu is from South Africa and is designed to resemble a supermodel with a petite body and great height.

The idea, from the very beginning, has been for promotion of brands and products. But why are brands choosing them over real people? Well, it is to appeal to the younger demographics, and in a way, to cut costs.

While a real shoot requires an entourage of the influencers, their schedules, the dates for the locations and so on, a virtual influencer can easily do this job in less than a few days. Moreover, there is no hassle of having varied agencies such as production houses or model agencies to be a part of it. All you need is a creative team and the 3D designers. Viola! That is about it.

While this is economically good for the brand, it is bound to have long-term effects on society. First and foremost, most of these influencers are women, and they are conventionally pretty. This drives the already skewed beauty standard in society to nearly unattainable. South Asian countries, South Korean countries, China, and even the west have recently seen a spike in face reconstruction surgeries or body enhancing surgeries. Now imagine, in such a toxic mindset, you introduce these immortal, but beautiful women, where will this lead to? Am I advocating that one should not progress? No, but my issue is with the way they have been designed. Why not be inclusive? If you try to be, then these brands will not be happy.

Secondly, it also promotes very toxic working standards. For instance, real models, who are already going through psychological trauma or depression, will have to compete with AI that does not feel emotions. This means that they will have to work twice as hard to earn more money. Maybe, even avoid taking breaks and so on. In a society where your productivity is tied with your sense of self, this can have a catastrophic effect. In addition to this, there are chances of one losing their autonomy in business dealings. We are already working in capitalist society, and then having to be owned by those you hire you, is downright unethical. It is already happening in places such as the film and music industry across the world. Look at Britney Spears or Kesha or even Korean pop idols.

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, it seems like many will end up losing their jobs. Come to think of it, if the virtual influencers are a booming market already, in a decade's time, they are likely to expand. For instance, some are already thinking of producing music videos with them. Where does that leave us humans? The only jobs that you will have are highly skilled labor, largely in engineering sectors.

I don’t want to sound the alarm, but the world is certainly moving in one direction—dystopian. We already have government watchdogs, animosity between races, capitalism, climate crises, and much more. But now, we also have to deal with AI models, who will cater to real human beings. How is that even fair?

This is just the beginning, and one hopes that such innovations take on a more positive approach. But until then, one can’t shake off the feeling that we are stuck in a Black Mirror or Westworld episode.