Project description
Generative AI impact on influencer and creator economy on social media
A key dimension of the impact of generative AI technologies on social media has been the proliferation of a range of AI influencers, chatbots, and personas on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. Whether produced by the companies themselves or generated by users, such AI personas seemingly automate 'authenticity', an ambivalent quality central to contemporary brand culture and the so-called 'creator economy' on social media. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the AI INFLUENCE project will use digital ethnographic fieldwork to investigate the social, cultural and political implications of AI influencers. It aims to explore how the convergence of large language models, gendered affective labour and the logic of authenticity is impacting platform capitalism.
Objective
This project investigates the emergence of AI influencers on social media, which include fictional avatars with human-like personas and AI doubles of human influencers who chat with their followers via direct messages (a new feature on Instagram). Preceded by a range of CGI-constructed virtual influencers entirely scripted by human creators, newer AI influencers are created and operate by way of various large language model (LLM)-powered tools, from text-to-image generators that can be used to make avatars to text generators that allow these entities to make post captions, comments, and send direct messages. Given their ability to automate the affective labor that goes into crafting an “authentic” personal brand, a key dimension of social media-centric brand culture, AI influencers are increasingly featured in marketing campaigns as models and brand ambassadors. Working across the disciplines of feminist media and cultural studies as well as digital anthropology, I explore the social implications and political economy of the convergence of generative AI technologies and brand culture, emphasizing the growing technologically-mediated role of language in the so-called “creator economy” on social media platforms. The project is based on digital ethnographic fieldwork designed to demonstrate the function and impact of what I term the “probabilistic storytelling” of AI influencers, which reflects both the probability-based semantics of LLMs and the ways in which these stories are interpreted and shaped in human social media user imaginaries and practices.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
30123 Venezia
Italy
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.