AI influencers are the latest shiny object in influencer marketing. But they're already losing their luster for some marketers.
Brand partnerships with AI social accounts dropped by around 30% in the first eight months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, according to transaction data from hundreds of campaigns provided by the influencer-marketing platform Collabstr.
Part of the drop-off may be tied to recent consumer backlash against AI slop. But the retreat can also be attributed to AI accounts simply underperforming, Collabstr cofounder Kyle Dulay said.
"I don't think AI content has gotten to a point where it's able to garner the same amount of engagement and audience that a real human is able to," Dulay said.
Brands are wary of using AI in a manner that will draw consumers' ire, and AI influencers are often a target. Fashion brand Guess drew a wave of criticism after using an AI-generated model in an advertisement in Vogue, for example. The conversation around an AI actor named Tilly Norwood prompted condemnation from the actors' union, SAG-AFTRA. Beauty brand Dove has sworn off using AI models entirely.
"A lot of brands understandably are really worried about getting backlash," said Mae Karwowski, CEO of the influencer-marketing firm Obviously, which hasn't worked with AI creators this year. "You definitely see consumer and just user backlash on most things AI-generated when it's so clearly literally replacing a person."
For brands that want to test the waters with AI influencers, it can be challenging to determine which types of accounts will or won't create reputational risk.
Collabstr, for instance, defines the category as a mix of "virtual influencers" like Lil Miquela and social accounts that solely feature AI-generated content.
Marketers mentioned other AI-related formats in conversations with Business Insider. There are AI-generated avatars that brands use to imitate user-generated content, which typically do not have a follower base. Creators can also now make digital twins of themselves for marketers that leverage their likeness with their consent.
Billion Dollar Boy's CMO Becky Owen said the influencer industry's frenzied interest in AI is stabilizing after a hype cycle, especially as consumer enthusiasm around AI wavers.
"It was shiny, it was different. It broke up our feeds of people holding products and saying, 'buy this,'" Owen said. "Now we've got AI slop, which feels lazy, uninspired … It feels like junk mail."
Marketers and creators alike have to walk a fine line between innovation and slop.
Being a brand isn't so easy right now. From Sydney Sweeney's American Eagle jeans ad to Cracker Barrel's logo fiasco, consumers aren't shying away from letting brands know what they think. The last thing a brand needs is a big AI-shaped bull's-eye.
Marketers are still bullish on other AI applications
While some brands may be pulling back on campaigns featuring fully AI-generated influencers, they're still very interested in using the tech to partially enhance influencer campaigns.
About 79% of marketers said they are increasing investment in AI-generated creator content this year, according to a Billion Dollar Boy survey of about 1,000 senior marketers in the UK and US.
One way AI could prove useful for creators and brands is after the content for a deal is already filmed and submitted, Obviously's Karwowski said. Revisions take time, and AI video tools could help rescue the value of a contract for a creator.
Companies like Mirage, formerly Captions, have technology that can help brands quickly modify influencer content, for example. Karwowski said Obviously plans to test this soon.
As AI tech improves with the release of tools like Sora 2, even the most skeptical brands may become curious about testing AI influencer campaigns. AI influencers can offer a lot of creative control to brands, and they may soon be harder for the untrained eye to spot.
"We're going to get to a point where it's going to be indistinguishable from real content," Dulay said. "We'll see people spending on AI without even knowing that they're spending on AI just because that's where they see the engagement."
AI influencers' 'authenticity' problem
One of the pitfalls of working with AI creators is losing influencer marketing's secret sauce: authenticity.
Successful influencer-brand partnerships rely heavily on the trust built between the content creator and their followers. This is much harder to pull off when the influencer is artificial.
"You can't really speak to your personal experience with a product or service through an AI because they haven't had a personal experience," Linqia's chief strategy officer, Keith Bendes, said. "Every brand wants authenticity and that's the opposite of authenticity."
