- Bot Hurt
- Posts
- She’s flawless. She’s booked. She’s not real.
She’s flawless. She’s booked. She’s not real.
The next wave of influencers is all AI—and they’re cashing real checks.
Bot Hurt
August 14, 2025
Don’t get bot hurt. Get bot even.
Mia Zelu had the perfect Wimbledon post this summer — a sun-kissed glow, a spritz and a prime courtside seat. The likes poured in. The only glitch? She’s never been to London—or anywhere. Mia Zelu is an AI influencer.
From viral avatars like Mia to long-established virtual “It girls,” influencer culture has officially swerved into the uncanny valley. The followers? Real. The engagement? Real. The face? Pure pixel.
Meet the other digital darlings
Lil Miquela, launched in 2016, has modeled for Prada, starred in a Calvin Klein campaign, and in 2020, became the first digital avatar to be signed by a top Hollywood talent agency. You might remember her from our Deepfakes Are Here: Cue the Chaos issue where we clocked how human she seemed until you zoomed in and the pixels gave her away. |
Noonoouri, a doll-like 3D avatar, has fronted campaigns for Dior, Valentino—and even scored a deal with Warner Music. |
Shudu is billed by her creators as the “world’s first digital supermodel,” with campaigns for Fenty Beauty and Balmain. |
Aitana López is a Spanish-made “it girl” pulling in thousands a month without touching a camera. |
Why brands swipe right on bots
No sick days, no scandals, no scheduling conflicts. Just perfect lighting, 24/7 availability and the ability to post from Bali at 3 a.m. while the file’s rendering in Barcelona.
Engagement rates often rival—and sometimes beat—human influencers.
Why humans still have the edge
This isn’t the influencer apocalypse. AI can crank out the brand-safe, always-on content, but it can’t fake a lived-in laugh, a bad hair day, or a truly unhinged travel story. Authenticity is still the human edge—and it’s what turns casual followers into actual fans.
The algorithm-approved catch
A lot of these avatars share the same “meta face”—that AI-default beauty blend of flawless skin, big eyes, tiny nose and racially ambiguous perfection.
It’s algorithm-approved, but not exactly reality. As bots slide deeper into our feeds, transparency matters, especially if we want diversity and representation to exist in the virtual world too.
🤖💡 Final bot thought
AI influencers aren’t here to delete your account. They’re here to change the rules. For brands, it’s control. For creators, it’s a dare: double down on what bots can’t copy.
In 2025, you don’t have to be real to be relevant—but you do have to beat the bots at their own game.
🤖 🗣️ Bot Talk: AI’s Got Your Tree Count Covered
In order to get crop insurance money after 2017’s Hurricane Irma left some citrus growers in Florida devastated, they had to count every tree by hand. In one case, three guys spent 14 months at it.
That’s not recover, that’s punishment.
So a University of Florida researcher built Agroview, an AI tool that uses drones and machine learning to map groves, flag missing trees and finish the job 90% faster.
What started as a hurricane hack is now helping farmers optimize fertilizer, predict yields and replant faster.
Insurance companies use it. Growers swear by it. And somewhere, a spreadsheet just breathed a sigh of relief.
🚀 Coming up next week …
15 Years of Dystopia? Hold my Wi-Fi
A former Google exec says we’re headed for 15 years of AI-fueled chaos—mass layoffs, social unrest, maybe even a Wi-Fi-enabled peasant class, before we reach utopia.
He might be right. But here’s the glitch: dystopias aren’t inevitable. They’re designed—and we can redesign.
And humans still have time to build something better.
We’re unpacking what’s hype, what’s harm and where real power still lives—with us.
Don’t get bot hurt. Get bot even.