First, artificial intelligence (AI) came for our jobs. Now, it’s coming for our beauty standards by way of AI “content creators.”
Solely digital renderings and not real people, AI-generated influencers have become influencers, brand ambassadors, and digital creators, amassing thousands of dollars in revenue through subscription-based content. Apparently, the next natural step was an AI beauty pageant.
Yes, really: Creator platform Fanvue, whose userbase includes both real creators and AI ones, announced the Fanvue World AI Creator Awards (WAICAs), the world’s first ever beauty pageant for AI-generated influencers. According to the brand, they’ve “seen exponential growth in AI-generated creators joining its platform since the end of 2023,” with “digital superstars” garnering millions of followers on their platform, Instagram, and elsewhere.
It’s true: Digital “models” Emily Pellegrini and Aitana Lopez, who are AI and not real people, have a combined 591 million followers on Instagram, real-life brand deals, and thousands of loyal subscribers who pay for exclusive content. According to FanVue, Lopez earns over $10,000 monthly, and she’s far from the only one: Fanvue’s Instagram comments are inundated with thousands of fellow AI-generated content creators promoting access to their private pages for a price.
Remarkably, it’s paying off. FanVue expects the “AI creator economy,” which they’ve helped pioneer, to exceed the $1 billion mark this year. “This hasn’t been possible until recently, the technology simply wasn’t there,” a WAICA spokesperson tells Glamour. “With the help of monetization platforms such as Fanvue, there’s been exponential growth in AI creators entering the space, growing their fanbases, and monetizing the connections they’re building with their audiences.”
Hence: the creation of the “Miss AI” pageant, in which AI-generated contestants will be judged on “some of the classic aspects of pageantry” and the “the skill and implementation of AI tools used to create” the contestants. Also being considered is the AI creators’ “social media clout”—meaning they’re not just crowning the most “beautiful” avatar, but also the most “influential.”
