The next time you buy a flashy new outfit after browsing Instagram, or tap the heart button on a particularly compelling TikTok video, you might discover that the person who posted it isn't real--and you might not care at all. That is, if virtual influencers (and their creators) get their way. A virtual influencer is a digital personality that posts on social media to build an audience of passionate fans, just like a human influencer; at least, that's how it seems. In reality, a team of humans uses computer-generated imagery (CGI), motion capture, and marketing magic to give a digital avatar a voice, a life, and a brand. The result makes virtual influencers seem like, well, real people.

The year 2021 is important because even with the time left one can expect greater presence and visibility of digital influencers not just coming up but'competing' with their human counterparts in brand promotion through advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence. Just like, social media influencers, beauty influencers, influencers who are involved with the promotion of AI products and services are known as AI influencers in 2021. With the cutting-edge competition in brand promotion activities, the influencers, in general, are gaining increasing attention in the artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem. Before citing the factors responsible for this development, let it be conveyed that the influencers are so-called because of the ability to influence potential buyers of products and/or services by promoting the items on social media. But there is a lot of fluidity about who the influencers are and how they act. There is, in other words, no unanimously accepted criterion/criteria of'influencer' and it very much remains an evolving concept and process.