Brands using AI-generated influencers to promote products on social media
TL;DR
A Guardian investigation found brands using AI-generated influencers on Instagram to make promotional posts look like real customer experiences. Examples include Once, Maket and Ashle. Ashle removed some images after questions; Maket framed the tactic as small-scale testing for marketing hooks. In the UK, the ASA says there is no specific rule requiring AI-made ads to be labelled as AI. EU rules from August will require clearer labelling for deepfake-like media.
Nauti's Take
Fake UGC is not a clever growth hack; it is a trust breach with an API attached. If you disguise AI avatars as real customers, you train users to distrust every testimonial surface.
Better hooks today, broken conversion foundations tomorrow.
Briefingshow
The issue is not that brands use AI visuals. It becomes a trust problem when ads are designed to look like authentic customer stories while hiding that the person is synthetic. AI marketing is moving faster than disclosure rules, and that gap is where manipulation becomes cheap.
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