Digits and Images and Ads, Oh My

"Miquela," by Brud (detail) source: CNN

This week on CNN, a piece in their tech section showed us a new phenomenon: a social media star (Instagram) who has become a force despite not being human (although passing online). The Instragram star is Miquela, who is recognizable by her freckles and brown bangs, among other attributes. Since 2016 "she" has been posting about fashion and attending shows, hanging out with celebrities and so has become what is known as an "influencer."

Miquela has something on the order of a million followers on social media. In April, she admitted that she wasn't human. Nobody seems to care. Despite the truth that Miquela is a computer generated image placed on Instragram as an avatar (the words posted seem human) and used to promote various products in a more subtle way than the usual bludgeon-like adverts on the 'net.

To my surprise, there are other CGIs out there. One called Shudu, mentioned on CNN, is billed as the first digital supermodel . Shudu is black and beautiful. She's a project of a photographer named Cameron James-Wilson who personally constructs each image. Although he has been up front from the beginning about the digital nature of Shudu, she is acclaimed as one of the beauties of Instragram, seemingly alongside human women.







Although we call these images "computer-generated" it's important to remember that these are human-generated using a digital tool. That is, these aren't made by an artificial (computer) intelligence, but by a human one. The tool simply provides a different set of tools, difficulties and image qualities than more traditional media. Certainly nobody can say that the humans who make these images are not artists. Instead we need to recognize the consummate artistry involved in production of a character like Shudu. Have a look at the short video below, narrated by Shudu's creator.

Given that Miquela is already an amazing Instagram success as well as an apparently successful (and probably money-making) influencer, and that Shudu is already a supermodel, it doesn't take much imgination to see how ubiquitous computer characters will be in advertising, especially online. Like magazines of the twentieth century nurtured traditional illustrators and their work, Internet sites of the twenty-first are beginning to develop their own band of fantastically gifted digital artists. It's time to pay a lot of attention.