She’s obtained much more than 130,000 followers on Instagram, wherever she posts pictures of her globetrotting adventures. Her make-up is usually impeccable, her clothes glance straight off the runway. She sings, dances and styles — and none of it is actual.
Rozy is a South Korean “digital influencer,” a digitally rendered human so realistic she is often mistaken for flesh and blood.
“Are you a real man or woman?” one particular of her Instagram enthusiasts asks. “Are you an AI? Or a robot?”
In accordance to the Seoul-dependent firm that produced her, Rozy is a blend of all three who straddles the true and virtual worlds.
She is “equipped to do every little thing that individuals can’t … in the most human-like sort,” Sidus Studio X says on its internet site.
That consists of raking in profits for the company in the multibillion-dollar advertising and marketing and enjoyment worlds.
Considering the fact that her launch in 2020, Rozy has landed brand offers and sponsorships, strutted the runway in digital trend demonstrates and even released two singles.
And she’s not on your own.
The “digital human” market is booming, and with it a total new economy in which the influencers of the upcoming are in no way-getting older, scandal-free and digitally flawless — sparking alarm among some in a region presently obsessed with unobtainable beauty benchmarks.
How virtual influencers get the job done
The CGI (laptop or computer-generated imagery) technological innovation powering Rozy is not new. It is ubiquitous in today’s enjoyment industry, wherever artists use it to craft reasonable nonhuman people in films, laptop video games and music films.
But it has only a short while ago been utilised to make influencers.
Sometimes, Sidus Studio X results in an impression of Rozy from head to toe using the technological know-how, an method that works well for her Instagram photos. Other moments it superimposes her head onto the physique of a human design — when she designs clothes, for instance.
An graphic of Lucy, the Korean digital human utilised by Lotte Dwelling Procuring. Credit rating: Courtesy Lotte Dwelling Purchasing
South Korean retail manufacturer Lotte House Searching produced its virtual influencer — Lucy, who has 78,000 Instagram followers — with program normally utilized for video clip online games.
Like their serious-everyday living counterparts, digital influencers make a next by social media, exactly where they publish snapshots of their “life” and interact with their fans. Rozy’s account exhibits her “traveling” to Singapore and enjoying a glass of wine on a rooftop while her supporters compliment her outfits.
Older generations may well look at interacting with an synthetic particular person relatively odd. But professionals say digital influencers have struck a chord with youthful Koreans, electronic natives who invest considerably of their lives on the web.
Lee Na-kyoung, a 23-calendar year-aged residing in Incheon, commenced pursuing Rozy about two a long time in the past considering she was a true individual.
Rozy followed her back again, at times commenting on her posts, and a digital friendship blossomed — a single that has endured even after Lee found out the real truth.
“We communicated like friends and I felt comfy with her — so I never believe of her as an AI but a authentic close friend,” Lee reported.
“I like Rozy’s material,” Lee included. “She’s so pretty that I won’t be able to feel she’s an AI.”
A profitable company
Social media does not just permit digital influencers to establish a fanbase — it really is where the dollars rolls in.
Rozy’s Instagram, for occasion, is dotted with sponsored information wherever she advertises skincare and fashion merchandise.
“A lot of massive organizations in Korea want to use Rozy as a model,” claimed Baik Seung-yup, the CEO of Sidus Studio X. “This 12 months, we be expecting to easily attain around two billion Korean gained (about $1.52 million) in earnings, just with Rozy.”
He extra that as Rozy grew a lot more well-liked, the enterprise landed extra sponsorships from luxurious makes these types of as Chanel and Hermes, as nicely as journals and other media corporations. Her adverts have now appeared on television, and even in offline areas like billboards and the sides of buses.
Lotte expects similar revenue this yr from Lucy, who has introduced in promotion presents from money and construction corporations, according to Lee Bo-hyun, the director of Lotte House Shopping’s media organization division.
The types are in high need simply because they help brand names achieve young shoppers, experts say. Rozy’s clients include things like a life insurance coverage agency and a financial institution — providers generally observed as outdated-fashioned. “But they say their graphic has become extremely younger following operating with Rozy,” Baik reported.
It also helps that, in contrast to some of their actual-existence counterparts, these new stars are small-maintainance.
It will take Lotte and Sidus Studio X concerning a number of several hours and a pair of days to make an graphic of their stars, and from two days to a several weeks for a movie business. That’s significantly less time and labor than is essential to generate a professional showcasing real people — in which months or months can be expended place scouting and preparing logistics such as lighting, hair and make-up, styling, catering and submit-generation editing.
And, maybe just as crucial: digital influencers in no way age, tire or invite controversy.
Lotte made a decision on a digital influencer when contemplating how to optimize its “display hosts,” mentioned Lee.
Lotte Home Procuring hires human hosts to publicize items on Television set — but they “charge quite a large amount,” and “there will be changes when they age,” Lee claimed. So, they came up with Lucy, who is “endlessly 29 several years aged.”
“Lucy is not confined to time or space,” he extra. “She can seem everywhere. And there are no moral problems.”
A dilemma about beauty
South Korea just isn’t the only put to have embraced virtual influencers.
Among the the world’s most renowned digital influencers are Lil Miquela, created by the co-founders of an American tech startup, who has endorsed brands like Calvin Klein and Prada and has a lot more than 3 million Instagram followers Lu of Magalu, produced by a Brazilian retail organization, with nearly 6 million Instagram followers and FNMeka, a rapper developed by new music corporation Manufacturing unit New, with far more than 10 million TikTok followers.
But you can find 1 main change, according to Lee Eun-hee, a professor at Inha University’s Department of Buyer Science: digital influencers in other nations are inclined to mirror a variety of ethnic backgrounds and natural beauty beliefs.
Virtual humans elsewhere have a “uniqueness,” while “people in Korea are always manufactured attractive and very … (reflecting) the values of every single nation,” she additional.
An picture of Rozy, the digital influencer created by Sidus Studio X in South Korea. Credit history: Sidus Studio X
But ideas of what is popularly thought of stunning in the place continue to be slim for girls, this typically implies a petite figure with massive eyes, a little encounter and pale, apparent pores and skin.
And these options are shared by most of the country’s digital influencers Lucy has best skin, lengthy glossy hair, a slender jaw and a perky nose. Rozy has complete lips, extensive legs and a flat abdomen peeking out beneath her crop tops.
Lee Eun-hee warned that virtual influencers like Rozy and Lucy could be building Korea’s by now demanding elegance requirements even more unattainable — and heightening the demand for plastic surgical procedures or beauty items amongst women trying to find to emulate them.
“Authentic women want to turn out to be like them, and men want to day individuals of the exact visual appeal,” she stated.
An graphic of Lucy, the Korean digital human used by Lotte Residence Procuring. Credit score: Courtesy Lotte Home Purchasing
The creators of Rozy and Lucy reject such criticism.
Lotte consultant Lee Bo-hyun explained they had attempted to make Lucy more than just a “very image” by crafting an elaborate again tale and persona. She analyzed industrial structure, and will work in automobile structure. She posts about her task and passions, this kind of as her love for animals and kimbap — rice rolls wrapped in seaweed. In this way, “Lucy is striving to have a great affect in culture,” Lee claimed, incorporating: “She’s giving a message to the public to ‘do what you want to do according to your beliefs.'”
Baik, the Sidus Studio X CEO, reported Rozy just isn’t what “everyone would connect with stunning” and that the firm had intentionally tried out to make her visual appeal unique and veer away from common Korean norms. He pointed to the freckles on her cheeks and her huge-established eyes.
“Rozy shows people the value of inner self-assurance,” he added. “There are other virtual humans that are so pretty … but I created Rozy to exhibit that you can however be gorgeous (even without a conventionally attractive confront).”
‘Digital blackface’
Facebook and Instagram’s parent organization Meta, which has extra than 200 virtual influencers on its platforms, has acknowledged the dangers.
“To assistance makes navigate the moral quandaries of this rising medium and steer clear of possible dangers, (Meta) is working with associates to create an moral framework to guide the use of (digital influencers).”
An impression of Rozy, the digital influencer produced by Sidus Studio X in South Korea. Credit score: Sidus Studio X
Lotte is hoping Lucy will move from promoting to amusement, probably by showing up in a television drama. The business is also performing on a virtual human that will attractiveness to buyers in their 40s to 60s.
Baik details out that most followers never meet up with authentic celebrities in human being, only seeing them on screens. So “there is no huge distinction amongst digital human beings and the serious-lifestyle celebs they like,” he explained.
“We want to change perceptions of how people imagine of virtual human beings,” Baik additional. “What we do is just not to acquire away people’s work, but to do things that human beings are unable to do, such as perform 24 hours or make one of a kind information like walking in the sky.
