[wlug] Virtual Influencers: Who Needs Real People?

You probably know that celebrities can earn a lot by promoting products to their followers on social media. Some of these don’t actually have a flesh-and-blood job: they are famous for nothing more than being such “influencers”. Some advertisers have now decided to shortcut the process by creating their own “virtual influencers”: essentially, animated CG characters that they can control totally and much more easily than managing real people <https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/21/virtual_instagram_influencers/>. If all their interactions happen online, why do they need to be real?