AI influencers are just the tip of the iceberg for ‘synthetic’ talent

• Marketers are pouring billions into AI creators and avatars.
• Joe Ciarallo, who runs communications at Synthesia, says firms like NBCUniversal use AI clones.
• Eve Lee, founder of social media agency Source Material, warns AI influencers are a “race to the bottom.”

Marketers are pouring billions into avatars.

Over the last year, CMOs have spent nearly $1.4 billion on AI creators. By 2030, it’s estimated that the market will be worth tens of billions.

“‘AI marketing’ line items didn’t exist on the P&L a year ago,” Zuhair Lakhani, founder of the a16z-backed AI marketing startup Doublespeed, told me. “Every company that spends on creators is at least considering this solution.”

AI influencers are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to synthetic talent. A growing number of companies are building digital clones of their own executives, analysts, and on-air talent.

It’s “forward-thinking,” said Joe Ciarallo, who runs communications at Synthesia, the $4 billion AI video platform used by more than 90% of the Fortune 100. “Companies like NBCUniversal, Moody’s and Booz Allen Hamilton are already doing it.”

Last month, NBCUniversal — a Synthesia client — launched a digital twin of Andy Cohen to guide fans through the 5,000 hours of Bravo reality content on the Peacock app.

Another Synthesia client, UBS, turned its analysts into digital versions of themselves that deliver written research as polished video updates to clients.

“The idea that a senior leader can scale their presence through AI isn’t science fiction anymore,” Ciarallo told me.

According to Synthesia, clients report saving more than $5,000 per video and cutting production time by 50% when they use AI talent.

Doublespeed is taking a different approach. The company helps brands build entire fleets of synthetic social media accounts that can post content, respond to comments, and engage with customers across platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

Demand has been overwhelming. After Doublespeed launched last July, more than 5,000 companies signed onto the waitlist within a month, according to founder Zuhair Lakhani.

“The bottleneck for us right now is hiring not demand,” he told me.

One operator using Doublespeed’s platform can now produce the output of what used to require a full team of 20 to 30 creators, plus producers, editors, and community managers. And it delivers better results, with conversion rates of 5% to 15% compared to lower rates from traditional social campaigns.

While critics paint Doublespeed as a cold content farm, Lakhani disputes that characterization. He notes that, even with AI, content still requires human oversight and taste. Doublespeed still employs humans to work with AI to perfect hooks, choose the best generations of avatars, and make editorial calls.

“AI-generated content is still only as good as the humans on it. Taste and human intuition DO matter,” he said.

But not everyone is bullish on AI talent

Eve Lee, who launched social media agency Source Material, is actively working to counter the AI slop she believes will overwhelm the internet.

“I believe AI influencers are objectively a race to the bottom and chaotic evil,” Lee said. “The idea of scaling fake influencers to sell products is madness to me.”

Lee is trying to differentiate herself by working only with human influencers.

“Brands will need to lean further into culture, not away from it,” she said. “Technology is not culture; it’s a vehicle of it.”

She also believes that adopting AI influencers en masse will result in the disillusionment of customers over time. “It’s one of the most visible ways a brand can tell its customers: We don’t care about real people, or humanity. I think it really is that deep.”

Others believe that thhse AI tools are promising but still a work in progress. Bill Ross, who runs a digital marketing firm, Emulent, has seen clients drop millions on AI campaigns and get mediocre returns.

“It was fine. It was novel. It was something that was kind of forward-thinking,” he told me. “But the return at that point wasn’t going to be what they wanted.”

But with tools like Synthesia and Doublespeak that is quickly changing.

“The growth is going to be logarithmic,” Ross said. “It’s only going to accelerate.”