• by Colin Kirkland , April 11, 2024

TikTok has reportedly been talking with advertisers about an artificial-intelligence-generated feature that creates a wave of virtual influencers to star in videos on the app. According to a report by The Information, human influencers would be competing with the avatars for ad deals.

The report states that the fleet of virtual influencers is under development and could still change as the project moves ahead. It is not yet available to advertisers as a live tool.

The way the feature currently is understood to work involves the generation of a script for a video ad based on a prompt provided by the advertiser. TikTok staff have been testing the avatars but have decided they aren’t yet ready for live consumption due to low e-commerce sales conversions compared to human influencers.

Still, TikTok is said to believe that AI creators are likely to complement its current base of influencers.

In addition, two advertisers familiar with the matter, told The Information that TikTok Shop merchants also have the option to use the virtual influencer to promote their products.

TikTok has not provided any further details on the AI-creators, how the company plans to share ad dollars between human creators and AI-creators, or how it aims to provide a fair environment for sharing brand deals.

It is an interesting move for the company to make, especially now, in the middle of a potential ban in the US. Just last week, the company has centered its creator community in the fight against the piece of legislation, issuing a TV ad spot featuring probable creators who depend on TikTok for their living, as well as an economic impact report showing the platform providing almost $15 billion in small business profits, and generating $24.2 billion in total economic activity via SMB use on the platform.