Artificial Influencers and the Death of Authenticity
Plus: OpenAI's feature film debut, hallucinations are here to stay, and AI generated commercials you need to see.
👋 Happy Tuesday AI Marketers. AI generated influencers may be the ultimate form of fakery, but they’re pulling in real money. Hollywood can’t figure out how to make movies with AI, so OpenAI is going first. And AI is making big budget commercials accessible for small businesses. Let’s get you caught up…
Fake is the New Famous: AI Influencers are Amassing Fans and Fortunes
Lil’ Miquela has 2.4 million followers. She’s on magazine covers. She’s posed for Prada. She’s taken selfies with Pelosi. And, oh yeah, she’s not real. Neither is Mia Zelu, who went viral after “attending” Wimbledon in all her synthetic glory.
It’s official, AI influencers are a thing. And they’re making millions for the teams behind them. They don’t age. Don’t burn out. Don’t cancel shoots. They can be in Hong Kong and New York at the same time. Brands love it. Audiences can’t get enough. And marketers everywhere are scratching their heads, wondering if authenticity matters at all anymore.
OpenAI is Getting into Feature Films
Hollywood takes three years to make a movie. OpenAI says it can do it in nine months. For under $30 million. And Critterz, a full-length animated adventure infused with cuddly forest creatures, is the test. Lending its resources to production teams in LA and London, OpenAI plans to premier at Cannes in May. With fingers crossed for a distribution deal to follow. If this bet pays off, will the floodgates open for AI-generated content?
Anthropic Settles Major Copyright Suit (for a Measly $1.5 Billion)
Anthropic will pay half a million writers $3,000 each. Not for training Claude on their copyrighted works, but for using “shadow libraries” to illegally obtain books. Turns out it’s ok to purchase zillions of books, scan them in, and train to your heart’s content. Just don’t get them from pirates. Either way, when you’re valued at $183 billion, settlements like this amount to a rounding error. The lesson for AI companies: follow the rules or get a slap on the wrist. The lesson for writers, artists, and other creators… your work isn’t protected.
Agency Bosses Drop the B.S. and Offer Real Survival Strategies
Debate over the future of agencies is starting to sound like a broken record. While marketing pundits continue recycling “adapt or die” platitudes with little to no substance, The Drum is getting real. They asked leaders running the most innovative and forward-looking agencies what it’s going to take to survive in a future dominated by AI. With a variety of business models represented, the responses were varied, but all represent a healthy dose of optimism. Highly recommended if you’re in search of real advice.
When Will AI Stop Hallucinating? Here’s What OpenAI Says
It’s the question on every marketer’s mind: When will AI stop making things up? OpenAI’s latest research says hallucinations aren’t just a bug, they’re how the system works. Benchmarks reward models for guessing, not honesty. So they bluff with confidence when they’re stumped. But the details in this article matter. The more you understand what makes LLMs tick and where the limits are, the more you can push it without fear of getting burned.
AI-generated ads aren’t just here. They’re getting good. Customer experience firm 8x8 turned real-life clients into action heroes in a new campaign that’s clever, narrative driven, and cinematic in a way that would have been impossible on a tiny budget without AI. Over-the-top scenes depicting clients as archaeologists, deep sea divers, and monster truck drivers prove AI video can help small brands think big.
🎙️ My top 3 podcast episodes this week:
THE EXIT FIVE CMO PODCAST
The Unfiltered Truth About Video Marketing and AI
Dave Gerhardt and Holly Xiao of HeyGen dig into how AI is reshaping B2B video. They cover why video hits harder than text, how to scale production without burning budget, and why early adoption lets small teams punch above their weight.
TECH WON’T SAVE US
Will AI Kill Your Job? (w/ Brian Merchant)
Paris Marx talks with Brian Merchant, author of Blood in the Machine and the brilliant newsletter of the same name, about AI’s role in killing jobs and degrading work. They cover tech workers, translators, labor movements, and whether the AI bubble is already primed to pop.
MARKETING AGAINST THE GRAIN
Marketing is Broken. This is the Future of Conversions.
HubSpot’s Kipp Bodnar and Aja Frost untangle a new reality: 60% of searches now end without a click. They examine what this really means for marketers, argue the future belongs to teams who can personalize at scale, and reveal their new Loop Framework for AI-driven conversions.
Have a favorite podcast to recommend? Shoot me the details.
🚨 AI-forward companies are looking for AI-forward marketers:
GenAI Marketing Strategy-Vice President
JPMorganChase
Lead GenAI marketing transformation at JPMorganChase, developing integrated roadmaps, championing AI for workflow automation, content creation and personalization, aligning cross‑functional stakeholders and measuring efficiency and impact.
Digital Marketer (AI Marketer)
Kiingo AI
Design scalable marketing systems using AI tools like Claude and n8n; build voice guides and automated sequences linking content, social, email, webinars and sales; test at scale and document playbooks.
Sr. AI Marketing Content Designer
Advanced RPO
Blend graphic design with generative AI tools to produce scalable marketing content and presentations; create product visuals and executive decks; maintain templates and champion AI platforms while collaborating across teams.
CMO & Product Partner
Episodic
Shape AI agent development by partnering with engineering to define and test automation for marketing content; run high velocity campaigns, optimize funnels, and create playbooks integrating AI.
Director, Marketing GenAI Content Strategy and Advancement Lead
Genentech
Define and align GenAI requirements with content strategy; lead adoption of GenAI tools for efficient content creation, collaborate across marketing and product teams, drive innovation and training, and monitor KPIs.
📅 Join AI marketers at conferences, summits, and industry events.
Product Marketing Summit
San Francisco, CA, September 10–11
AI for Marketers Summit
San Francisco, CA, September 11
Content Marketing World
San Diego, CA, September 16–17
AI Conference
San Francisco, CA, September 17–18
HeroConf
San Diego, CA, September 23–24
GAI World
Boston, MA, September 29–30
Marketing Artificial Intelligence Conference (MAICON)
Cleveland, OH, October 14-16
TechCrunch Disrupt
San Francisco, CA, October 27-29
Have an event to add? Send me the details.
