Tik TokStrikeAI influencers
In the AI era, almost everyone says that every industry and product is worth redoing. In recent years, a group of AI influencers have emerged on social media and started looking for opportunities to monetize.
The so-called AI Internet celebrities refer to virtual characters created using artificial intelligence technology, who create content and interact through social media platforms to attract fans' attention.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with using AI to gain benefits through legitimate means, but using any means to attract attention and make a profit may be against regulations or even illegal.
For example, some accounts on social media are set up as Russian beauties who claim to "live in China," "want to marry a Chinese man," and "thank China" in order to monetize their traffic and sell goods, exploiting patriotism.
After this AI influencer became popular, a foreigner accused the account of stealing his face and voice. Incredibly, some netizens said "it's hard to tell that it was generated by AI"
Image source: Shot from Weibo
Some even use AI to generate fake images of handsome men and beautiful women, directly calling users "you", "mother", "mom", "husband", etc., posting emotional induction, singing love songs,Content that expresses false emotions such as seeking benefits for you, diverts users to private chat tools, and even commits fraud.
With AI technology developing so rapidly today, AI chaos is emerging one after another, and social media platforms are also constantly cracking down on AI violations.
Today, Douyin said that the platform has obtained clues that some black market gangs are improperly using AI to generate virtual characters for crimes, and will report to the police to crack down on them.
The Douyin platform discovered that there were still accounts on the site that improperly used AI technology to generate virtual characters and post content, and the platform took severe measures.
Use AI to generate virtualThe platform will remove the illegal videos, cancel the posting and profit rights of the illegal accounts, delete the account followers, and ban the accounts., and use models, technical identification capabilities and other means to conduct long-term systematic identification, discovery and disposal.
Douyin listed several typical examples of illegal use of AI to generate virtual characters, mainly including the use of AI to generate fake foreigners, fake elites, and the use of AI to generate images to deceive interactions.
Image source: Screenshot from Douyin Security Center
In addition, the Douyin platform has made it clear that creators, anchors, users, merchants, advertisers, etc. must follow corresponding regulations when releasing generative artificial intelligence technology.
Specifically, publishers shouldProminently mark AI-generated content, helping other users distinguish between virtual and reality, especially in easily confusing scenes.
Publisher needsBe responsible for the consequences of AI-generated content, regardless of how the content is generated;Virtual people need to register on the platform, and users of virtual human technology need to authenticate their real names;
It is prohibited to use generative artificial intelligence technology to create and publish infringing content.Including but not limited to portrait rights, intellectual property rights, etc.; it is prohibited to use generative artificial intelligence technology to create or publish content that violates scientific common sense, is fraudulent, or spreads rumors.
In fact, no matter how far AI develops, it is always an auxiliary tool to promote the progress of human society. So AI as a tool, if used in a good direction, is of great benefit. If it is used improperly, it is only a matter of time before it is resisted. After all, everything depends on human effort.
Uncovering the secrets of AI influencer business
Nowadays, a number of AI accounts have begun to emerge on social media to promote products, and an industrial chain has actually emerged behind them.
According to China News Service, a person who operates multiple AI foreign beauty accounts said,The technical difficulty and cost of creating such an account are not high, which can be achieved through AI portrait cloning software and real-life video materials. At present, there are some mature generation software in the industry. Each account takes one or two hours a day.The main purpose is to accumulate fans and bring goods, and the fans are mainly middle-aged and elderly people.
For example, the Douyin account "Chocolate, Little Lemon" portrays a middle-aged beautiful emotional mentor, and most of the content is about emotional issues between men and women.
There are already many similar accounts like "Chocolate, Little Lemon" on Douyin. Their user portraits mostly focus on men over 40 years old. At the same time, they use the image of beautiful women to output emotional chicken soup in batches, and finally monetize through product showcases and exclusive memberships.
Image source: New List
In addition to operating the account to sell goods, they also sell materials and operational guidance for such accounts, charging 2,980 yuan, and the income from selling goods is shared equally with the students.
There are even tutorials for sale on e-commerce platforms. If you type "AI beauty" on an e-commerce trading platform, you can see highly misleading slogans such as "Newbies can earn over 2,000 yuan a day", "Make a video in 5 minutes", and "Hurry up and create an account". Most of the products are shipped in the form of online disks, with prices ranging from a few yuan to dozens of yuan.
Image source: China News Service
However, there are great risks in using AI to sell products in this way. Using other people's portraits to synthesize AI videos for live streaming to sell products may involve false advertising or even fraud to buyers, which is likely to be counterproductive.
As early as May 9, 2023, Douyin released the "Douyin Platform Specifications and Industry Initiatives on AI-Generated Content". The specifications stated that virtual human anchors need to register with real names and need to be marked as "virtual human live broadcasts."This means that bionic anchors who try to be as close to real people as possible still have to face direct scrutiny from the audience.
Some industry insiders also said that natural persons enjoy the right to portrait, and the Civil Code clearly stipulates thatThe use of other people’s portraits requires the prior consent of the other person, otherwise it constitutes portrait infringement.
It should be noted that the constituent elements of portrait infringement do not include the purpose of profit. Even if the portrait of others is not used for the purpose of profit, it still constitutes portrait infringement.
"Even if the infringed party is abroad, it does not affect the determination of infringement, but it is more difficult and costly for them to protect their rights."
at the same timeIn some cases, the production of unauthorized digital copies of real people may also constitute a criminal offense. For example, using AI videos synthesized from other people's portraits to engage in illegal activities such as fraud.
Live e-commerce has entered the second half
At present, the main reason why AI influencers emerge on various social platforms is low investment, high returns and high efficiency. However, as AI regulations become more standardized and platform supervision becomes more stringent, using AI to do business may not necessarily last long.
After all, this behavior of attracting consumers to buy based on fictitious character positioning may be suspected of deception. Moreover, for a live broadcast room to make money, it depends on the good management of people, goods and venues.
First of all, in the live streaming industry, it is very important to establish a trust mechanism. If the products recommended by bloggers or anchors are not consistent with the actual products, consumers are likely to lose trust. After all, in the live streaming process, transparency and honesty are the key to winning consumers' trust.
On the other hand, anchors have gradually become an important part of consumers' orders. The emotional connection between anchors and fans also affects consumers' willingness to buy. For example, Dong Yuhui has attracted a large number of "mother-in-law" fans through his humorous and eloquent talents.
Secondly, the success of live streaming e-commerce is inseparable from the support of the supply chain. In the second half of live streaming e-commerce, more attention needs to be paid to the management and optimization of the supply chain to ensure the quality and supply capacity of products. Because the stability and reliability of the supply chain are crucial to the continued growth of live streaming e-commerce, otherwise it will not be able to continue for a long time.
In addition, in the second half, anchors need to have more professional knowledge and abilities, focus on selling goods, and provide high-quality product recommendations and services.
At present, the tool attributes of AI have indeed brought about great changes to the live e-commerce industry, but as people who use the tool, they need to make good use of its value, otherwise it will backfire.