In an age where technology continues to blur the lines between reality and innovation, the AI model Aitana has emerged as a revolutionary digital influencer. Aitana is a Barcelona based virtual model with pink hair, designed by The Clueless Agency. While she is 100 per cent artificial, she has captured the internet’s attention and has been paid up to €10,000 a month through partnerships, advertisements and social media campaigns.
It’s interesting how Aitana’s ride into the spotlight started in a difficult period for her producers. At the time, Rubén Cruz, Clueless Agency founder, was being fed unreliable ‘human influencers’ that kept canceling projects or causing delays. This inspired the creation of AI model Aitana, a controlled, reliable, and captivating alternative for brands.
What Makes Aitana Stand Out?
The AI model Aitana is more than just a digital figure—she’s a carefully crafted persona with a distinct personality. So, Aitiana’s creators would create an identity, different from the traditional models who would often be used as blank canvases for brand campaigns. This allows her to be relatable to audiences as she is portrayed as a fitness enthusiast with confidence and determination.
The creators also focused on the trends of society. Both Aitana’s “pink hair” and her “gamer” persona play with the already developing tendency of East Asian aesthetics in Europe, and of the wide rabbit hole that is the gaming community. This calculated design has made her a relatable figure and made them reach out to a wide variety of audiences.
How Aitana Earns Her Income
The AI model Aitana generates income through a variety of channels. She is earning more than €1,000 per advertisement and has worked with big names from the sports supplement company Big. On top of that, she also posts exclusive content in socials like Fanvue, a competitor of OnlyFans, to offer a wider range of revenue streams.
Social media has been a brilliant success for Aitana. With just 343,000 Instagram followers amassed in under 18 months, her posts typically rack up thousands of likes and comments. Surprisingly, many of her followers, and even some celebrities, aren’t aware she isn’t real. Well known Latin American actor Rubén Cruz forgot one simple thing when he message Aitana on Instagram — she was an AI.
The Technology Behind Aitana
Bringing the AI model Aitana to life requires a team of skilled designers and AI experts. The entire week, the team at The Clueless Agency attends planning meetings to brainstorm how Aitana will act regarding photoshoots, fictional travel stories, and everything in between. The result is lifelike images that use advanced Photoshop techniques and AI content to make her seem to live a very active and vibrant life.
The lesson the team learned was storytelling. Cruz explains: “People follow lives, not just images.” This means Aitana’s creators made a very detailed backstory so that they could keep audiences invested in her, she’s not just a fitness junkie and lame of a personality. This level of realism is exactly why she’s been able to compete with the real world influencers.
Criticism and Challenges
While the AI model Aitana has been a commercial success, her rise has not been without controversy. Her hyper-realistic and idealized appearance has been criticized by critics as possibly promoting unattainable standards of beauty, especially for younger audiences. But others have worried about the way she talks about being sexual, which they say encourages misogynist stereotypes.
Aitana’s creators respond by saying they just respond to market demands on this, but understand these concerns. Cruz explains, “If our covers don’t follow the current aesthetic trend, brands won’t be interested.” But he also notes how other traditional influencers and brands have long understood things like this, framing Aitana as a problem of industry, not her alone.
The Future of Virtual Models
The success of AI model Aitana has paved the way for other virtual influencers. Earlier this year, the Clueless Agency had already debuted a second AI model, Raquell, who is billed as more introverted and reserved. Aitana and Maia are pioneers when it comes to changing how brands promote their products and services, having reliable, cost effective alternatives to traditional influencers.
Democratizing the use of influencers in this new era of virtual models could make it easier on smaller businesses that might not have the money to pay for celebrity endorsements. But it also asks what will become of human models and the ethics of building artificial figures as popular bodies.
