Featured Image Credit: lilmiquela / Instagram
Coachella is one of the biggest music festivals across the world but more than any other it has served as a hotspot for influencers and celebrities over the years, with a new type of creator entering the fold this year.
Attending Coachella for some is less about the acts that you could see and more the image that it provides for your followers on social media, as being seen among major celebrities and other online sensations draws plenty of attention.
This not only translates to followers and likes but also brand deals, with companies regularly partnering with influencers for trips to Coachella resulting in payouts worth several thousand dollars and more.
This year's festival has shown that a new type of creator is looking to dominate the Instagram 'meta', with AI influencers attending the festival en masse and earning insane amounts of money for the privilege.
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As reported by the Daily Mail, if you've paid attention to some of the Coachella posts with the highest engagement you might be shocked to discover that some are from individuals that not only didn't attend the festival but aren't even real in the first place.
Miquela (@lilmiquela) is both an AI musician and influencer and one look at her Instagram page shows her 'attending' major recent events like the Euphoria season three premiere and even the Winter Olympics, and her Coachella post featured a selfie with the iconic ferris wheel.
Aitana Lopez (@fit_aitana) is another AI influencer who took a 'trip' to Coachella and was snapped in front of the ferris wheel, and the entirely artificial images appear to be enough to generate a ridiculous amount of money according to one expert.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Lewis Davey – founder of AI influencer management agency 'Pixel' – highlighted that jumping on trending events like Coachella is a 'smart tactic' for these fake influencers, noting that "it drives relevance amongst their audience and helps them align with the coolest moments on the calendar."
Davey added that it's caught the attention of brands "who'd traditionally pay real influencers a fortune to attend these events and capture content. Now brands can collab with AI influencers, access their followers, and 'show-up' at events without the need for a physical presence."
It effectively condenses the influencer experience down to its core, and with advancements in AI making it increasingly difficult to tell real from fake, the downsides for brands looking for easy and trending marketing opportunities are reduced.
It certainly makes sense from a financial perspective for the creators behind these AI accounts too, as the money earned from brand deals at events like Coachella can exceed $40,000 for a single post, likely due to the reduced cost on the brand's end without the need for anyone to actually attend.
