Ogilvy’s global head of influence Rahul Titus has spoken out about the agency’s groundbreaking AI Watermark policy, pointing out that people are ‘actually trusting’ AI influencers.
Speaking to Sally Bundock on the World Business Report Titus discussed the need to identify influencers which created using artificial intelligence and other non-human methods.
The WPP-owned agency has been pushing for a crackdown which would allow AI-generated influencer content to be properly identified with its new watermark, and has also been calling for a #poweredbyAI hashtag, which could be used similarly to the hashtag #paidpartnership.
“Influencer marketing works because of trust and authenticity and if we lose that trust and authenticity it just doesn’t work,” Titus said.
He also highlighted the different role of watchful influencers, where an artificial intelligence designed person can mimic a celebrity or an influencer that is its own creation or avatar.
Lou – who was designed for Brazilian brand Magalu was the “world’s biggest watchful influencer” before Barbie came along, Titus said.
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‘“What we’re seeing is that these watchful influencers are also having that same level of trust and authenticity, whilst it’s not there yet it’s slowly getting to a space where people are actually trusting them.”
He discussed recent work using an AI-generated version of Bollywood celebrity Shah Rukh Khan – “We used a deep fake of Shah Rukh Khan to give brands an opportunity to basically hyper-personalise an ad for millions of people in India.
“ So if you’re a shopkeeper in India you could go on to this website, create an ad that features Shah Rukh Khan promoting your brand.”
When asked about whether these could be properly authenticated, he said: “Disclosure is really important in this space, what we’re doing is working with these celebrities – making sure they know what’s happening and that this is improved.
“Even with Lou and she’s purely AI, you have to protect her image and the trust we have in her,” he added.
