10 AI Influencers Transforming Social Media

Last updated: 2 November 2026

Key takeaways

• The biggest account is not an AI persona. Magazine Luiza, at 9,841,019 Instagram followers, is the corporate account of a Brazilian retailer and its mascot Lu. It is also the lowest-engaging profile in this list, at 0.02%.
• Granny Spills is the standout performer. Up 6.57% in six months, the highest Kolsquare Audience Credibility Score in the list at 87 out of 100, and €43,433 in earned media value per Instagram reel.
• Naina Avtr is losing ground fastest. Down 8.81% over the same period, the steepest fall of the ten, and seventh by follower count at 339,745 despite being listed first.
• Earned media value is concentrated at the top. €100,411 per Instagram post for Magazine Luiza and €43,433 per reel for Granny Spills, against €374 per reel for Naina Avtr.
• UK audience share is small everywhere. Shudu leads at 5.68%, followed by Aitana Lopez at 5.35% and Granny Spills at 5.34%. Kolsquare serves no UK share at all for Naina Avtr, Kyra or Magazine Luiza, and Naina Avtr and Kyra are India-facing accounts at 89.98% and 93.01% respectively.
• Audience quality is uneven. Kyra is the only profile below 50 on Audience Credibility, at 49 out of 100. Guggimon draws 19.00% of its audience from Russia, its second market.
• Four of the ten lost followers over the six months to 2 November 2026 on the network they are measured on here: Naina Avtr, Guggimon, Imma and Shudu. Five grew, led by Granny Spills, though Aitana Lopez only just, at +0.08%. Kolsquare returns a flat 0% on Lil Miquela’s TikTok account, the one this list cites for her; her Instagram account is down 1.17%.
• The published order is not a follower ranking. By followers on each profile’s reference network the order is Magazine Luiza, Lil Miquela, Granny Spills, Guggimon, Aitana Lopez, Imma, Naina Avtr, Kyra, Shudu, Kai Wing. See the methodology below.
• AI influencers appeal to younger audiences that value digital-first, experimental content.
• While AI creators offer scalability, cost savings and creative freedom, they raise concerns around authenticity and compliance.
• In the future, campaigns will likely blend the flexibility of AI influencers with the relatability and emotional depth of human influencers.

What is an AI influencer?

AI influencers, or virtual influencers, are digitally generated characters that appear in social media content — similar to traditional influencers. They’re given personalities, aesthetics and backstories so they feel human, although some lean into being robotic for humour or novelty.

Thanks to tech innovations, today’s AI influencers convincingly work out, dance and "appear" at events. Some could even be mistaken for human, at first glance.

Why are brands investing in AI-generated influencers?

Virtual creators give brands flexibility because they can instantly adapt to trends and be placed in any scenario at little cost. For example, virtual influencer Aitana Lopez “attended” an Oasis concert in London.

Plus, they’re an innovative choice, which grabs attention in crowded social media feeds. Brands can also create more playful campaigns. For example, a brand could "literally" put an influencer on the moon. It introduces a new level of inventiveness that resonates with Gen Z audiences.

Virtual creators also give brands more control than human influencers. These creators never change, unless they're programmed to. And AI influencers won't have scandalous personal lives that harm brand reputations.

But these positive qualities also raise ethical questions around authenticity, representation and the replacement of human creativity.

Who are the most famous AI influencers? The 10 best virtual influencers

Here's our list of ten of the most-followed AI influencers, plus key data, such as engagement rates, EMV and brand collaborations.

Pro tip: Earned media value (EMV) is how much the buzz generated by a campaign would have cost through traditional marketing channels.

1. Naina Avtr (@naina_avtr) – 340K followers: AI model and fitness influencer from India

Platform: Instagram

Interests: Beauty, Fashion, Travel, Lifestyle

Brand collaborations: None in the six months to 2 November 2026.

Engagement rate: 0.04% overall (0.04% per post, 0.03% per reel)

EMV: Instagram posts: €3,588, Instagram reels: €374, Instagram Stories: €971

Indian AI-influencer Naina Avtr was created by Avtr Meta Labs to represent an aspirational Gen-Z lifestyle. The character is a 20-year-old fashion model living in Mumbai who attends fashion shoots, travels worldwide and shares HIIT workouts.

The Kolsquare data gives a less flattering picture than the follower count suggests. Naina Avtr lost 8.81% of her Instagram following over the six months to 2 November 2026, the steepest fall of the ten profiles here, ending the period at 339,745 followers. That places her seventh by audience size, not first. Her Audience Credibility Score is 61 out of 100, the second lowest in this list, and 89.98% of her followers are in India. Kolsquare serves no UK audience share for this account at all, so a UK brand has no reliable way to size the British reach on offer. Estimated cost sits between €2,870 and €3,947 per Instagram post, and between €299 and €411 per reel.

2. Aitana Lopez (@fit_aitana) – 404K followers: Spanish AI female fashion influencer

Platform: Instagram

Interests: Fitness, Health, Lifestyle

Brand collaborations: Lopez has tagged PRIME drinks and beauty salon Llongueras, who "dyed" her hair from pink to brown, in her content.

Engagement rate: 0.16% overall (0.49% per post, 0.15% per reel)

EMV: Instagram posts: €6,524, Instagram reels: €1,883, Instagram Stories: €1,154

At first glance, Aitana Lopez’s profile looks like any other 26-year-old fashion influencer’s. There are shots of her travelling, on the beach, and retouching her lipstick in a car wing mirror. The Spanish fashion influencer wears leather jackets, knee-high boots and crisp co-ords. In reels, Lopez talks into a microphone, sharing her views and opinions.

Lopez's character is based on popular trends. She was created by The Clueless Agency to develop a complex and realistic character. The agency's founder, Rubén Cruz, shared with Euronews that he developed the virtual character in response to unreliable creators, saying, "We started analysing how we were working and realised that many projects were being put on hold or cancelled due to problems beyond our control. Often it was the fault of the influencer or model and not due to design issues.”

Of the profiles in this list, Aitana Lopez is one of the three with the largest UK audience share, at 5.35%, behind Shudu on 5.68%. Her largest market is the United States at 19.36%, followed by Italy at 13.99% and Spain at 8.56%. Her following was essentially flat over the six months to 2 November 2026, up 0.08% to 403,766, and her Audience Credibility Score is 69 out of 100. The audience is 95.69% male, which narrows the categories she realistically suits. Estimated cost runs from €5,219 to €7,176 per Instagram post.

3. Kyra (@kyraonig) – 245K followers: AI fashion and travel influencer

Platform: Instagram

Interests: Fashion, Travel, Lifestyle

Brand collaborations: Kyra has collaborated with jewellery brand CaratLane.

Engagement rate: 0.49% overall (0.80% per post, 0.43% per reel)

EMV: Instagram posts: €4,819, Instagram reels: €2,559. No Stories EMV is available from Kolsquare for this account.

Kyra is an AI influencer created by FUTR STUDIOS. Her content includes fashion and travel content with a futuristic vibe. She’s become a recognisable Indian influencer and has even been featured in magazines. However, this influencer has a low Kolsquare Audience Credibility Score of just 49 out of 100, the only profile in this list below 50.

Her following grew 1.63% over the six months to 2 November 2026, to 245,456. The audience is 93.01% Indian and 84.76% male, and Kolsquare serves no UK share for this account, so UK brands should treat it as an India-market profile rather than a global one. Estimated cost sits between €3,855 and €5,301 per Instagram post, and between €2,047 and €2,815 per reel.

4. Miquela Sousa (@lilmiquela) – 3.3M followers: TikTok and IG virtual influencer

Platform: TikTok

Interests: Inspiration & Lifestyle, Fashion & Accessories, Photography

Brand collaborations: Lil Miquela created a promotional video for Liquid IV that generated €75K in EMV.

Engagement rate: Not available on TikTok. Kolsquare records zero likes and zero comments across her recent TikTok videos, on an average 13,325 views, so no TikTok engagement rate can be published for this account. On Instagram, where she has 2,241,362 followers, the rate is 0.07%.

EMV: Not available on TikTok. On Instagram: posts €24,145, reels €8,345, Stories €4,660.

One of the most famous AI influencers in the world, Lil Miquela, was created by LA-based startup Brud in 2016. With millions of followers across Instagram and TikTok, she has secured high-end brand partnerships, including collaborations with Prada, Calvin Klein and Samsung.

Lil Miquela's content included a photo op at the Video Music Awards and a video encouraging followers to register with the US National Marrow Donor Program. She has a credible audience, with an Audience Credibility Score of 73 out of 100.

The TikTok account that this entry is built on is the weak point. It is the second-largest audience in this list at 3,300,000 followers, but Kolsquare records no engagement activity on it over the six months to 2 November 2026 and returns no earned media value and no estimated cost. Her YouTube channel, at 268,000 subscribers, is equally dormant: every view, like and engagement metric comes back at zero. A UK brand briefing her should be pricing the Instagram account, not the TikTok one.

Instagram is where the activity sits, and even there the trend is downward: 2,241,362 followers, down 1.17% over the period, on a 0.07% engagement rate. The United States leads both accounts, at 38.99% on Instagram and 38.03% on TikTok. The UK is her second-largest Instagram market at 6.79% and her fourth-largest TikTok market at 4.31%. Estimated Instagram cost runs from €19,316 to €26,560 per post.

5. Magazine Luiza (@magazineluiza) – 9.8M followers: the retail brand avatar Lu do Magalu

Platform: Instagram

Interests: Fashion & Accessories, Health and Wellness, Beauty, Architecture & Design

Brand collaborations: In the six months to 2 November 2026, the virtual brand ambassador has promoted footwear brand Net Shoes, Brazilian ecommerce tech company KaBuM! and Samsung for Magazine Luiza.

Engagement rate: 0.02% overall (0.02% per post, 0.02% per reel)

EMV: Instagram posts: €100,411, Instagram reels: €8,662, Instagram Stories: €20,460

Magazine Luiza is a Brazilian retail company with a virtual brand ambassador, known as “Lu”. She shares deals, campaigns, and digital-first brand stories with the brand’s millions of loyal followers. To be clear about what this entry is: it is a retailer’s corporate Instagram account, not a personal AI persona with its own following. Kolsquare lists it under the company name, and 98.95% of its audience is Brazilian. We include it because it is the largest account in this list by a wide margin, and because it shows what an AI brand character can do when it is run as part of a retail marketing operation rather than as a standalone creator.

The scale is real. At 9,841,019 followers, up 4.33% over the six months to 2 November 2026, it generates €100,411 in earned media value per Instagram post, the highest figure in this list, on an average reach of 3,062,230 per post. The engagement rate is the lowest here, at 0.02%, which is what a very large corporate audience usually looks like. Its Audience Credibility Score is 83 out of 100. Kolsquare serves only three countries for this account, Brazil, the United States at 0.32% and Portugal at 0.13%, and no UK share at all, so for a UK campaign this is a reference point rather than a candidate.

6. Shudu (@shudu.gram) – 235K followers: AI model and beauty influencer on Instagram

Platform: Instagram

Interests: Sport & Fitness, Beauty, Fashion & Accessories, Inspiration & Lifestyle

Brand collaborations: Shudu has mentioned AI voices, sound effects and agent provider, ElevenLabs, and digital modelling agency, The Diigitals Agency.

Engagement rate: 0.11% overall (0.09% per post, 0.12% per reel)

EMV: Instagram posts: €2,805, Instagram reels: €1,095, Instagram Stories: €673

Dubbed the world’s first AI supermodel, Shudu was created by British visual artist Cameron-James Wilson. The AI Instagram influencer's content features striking poses so effective that she’s appeared in campaigns with Fenty Beauty and Balmain.

However, Shudu isn’t pure AI. Wilson shared with Harper’s Bazaar, "I use a 3D modeling program. It’s like virtual photography, so once I create her, I can kind of pose her in certain ways. I am a photographer anyway, so it’s just a way of exploring my creativity when I’m not shooting." He also shared that he created the model and influencer to complement dark-skinned models, rather than replace them.

For a UK brand, Shudu is the most relevant profile here on audience geography: 5.68% of her followers are in the United Kingdom, the highest UK share of the ten, with the United States on 25.77% and Brazil on 11.52%. Her Audience Credibility Score is 79 out of 100, the audience is 72.83% female, and the following is close to flat, down 0.23% over the six months to 2 November 2026 to 235,478. Estimated cost runs from €2,244 to €3,085 per Instagram post, among the lowest in this list.

7. Imma (@imma.gram) – 377K followers: Japanese AI influencer

Platform: Instagram

Interests: Inspiration & Lifestyle, Fashion & Accessories, Beauty

Brand collaborations: Imma has worked with jewellery brand Tiffany’s and sportswear brand Nike.

Engagement rate: 0.17% per reel. Kolsquare also returns 13.8% per post for this account, 81 times the reel figure. That gap almost certainly comes from a single viral post rather than a sustained rate, so we publish the reel figure as the usable benchmark and flag the post figure rather than averaging the two.

EMV: Instagram reels: €2,101, Instagram Stories: €1,079. The per-post figure, €56,855, is derived from the same outlying post and should not be used as a planning rate.

Imma is a pink-haired Japanese digital influencer. She’s been featured in Vogue Japan and worked with brands like IKEA Japan and Porsche. Imma’s social media posts show her posing at dinner, visiting the laundrette and "attending" events. The content is fun and multi-layered, giving the virtual influencer a human feel.

Her following stands at 377,377, down 0.44% over the six months to 2 November 2026, with an Audience Credibility Score of 79 out of 100. The audience is spread thinly across markets: Japan leads on 20.28%, then Brazil on 15.53%, India on 7.19% and the United States on 7.14%. The UK accounts for 2.07%, so UK reach is limited. Estimated cost runs from €1,681 to €2,312 per reel.

8. Guggimon (@guggimon) – 1.2M followers: the cartoon AI influencer

Platform: Instagram

Interests: Not available from Kolsquare for this profile. Its audience over-indexes on friends, family and relationships (30.41%), sport and fitness (28.77%) and clothing, shoes, handbags and accessories (25.18%).

Brand collaborations: Guggimon has mentioned probiotic drink brand Poppi and crisp brand Cheetos.

Engagement rate: 0.03% overall, measured on reels. Kolsquare returns no per-post metrics for this account.

EMV: Instagram reels: €1,125, Instagram Stories: €2,575. No per-post EMV is available from Kolsquare for this account.

Unlike the other virtual creators on this list, Guggimon looks like a cartoon character rather than a person. Created by Superplastic, the edgy, mischievous rabbit character intersects art, fashion and gaming. Fittingly, he’s collaborated with Fortnite, where he drops limited-edition collectibles.

As with Magazine Luiza, this is a studio property rather than a lone creator. Kolsquare holds the account under its parent entity, Superplastic’s GHOST KIDZ, and the @guggimon handle is attached to it. The following stands at 1,238,497, down 0.93% over the six months to 2 November 2026, with an Audience Credibility Score of 73 out of 100.

Two figures deserve scrutiny before a UK brief. Russia is the second-largest market at 19.00%, behind the United States on 38.11%, which is worth checking against the audience a UK campaign is actually paying for. And the UK itself accounts for 2.28%, the fifth market. Estimated cost runs from €900 to €1,238 per reel and from €2,060 to €2,832 per story.

9. Kai Wing (@music._.w) – 224K followers: AI art influencer

Platform: Instagram

Interests: Not available from Kolsquare for this profile. Its audience over-indexes on music (38.43%), art and design (35.55%) and clothing, shoes, handbags and accessories (31.92%).

Brand collaborations: Kai Wing has recently tagged the AI music platform SUNO music and the software company Adobe.

Engagement rate: 1.33% overall (0.14% per post, 1.46% per reel)

EMV: Instagram posts: €2,637, Instagram reels: €5,102, Instagram Stories: €642

Kai Wing is Adobe’s AI Creator Ambassador. He posts content featuring AI characters in game-like, ethereal settings. Fantastical castles emerge from clouds, a woman sits beside a waterfall, or blossoms fall onto canalside paths. These AI creations are more escapist than aspirational, showing a softer side to AI influence.

This is the smallest account in the list at 224,467 followers, and the second-fastest growing, up 4.68% over the six months to 2 November 2026. It is also the clearest format split here: 1.46% engagement on reels against 0.14% on posts, a tenfold difference, so a brief that does not include reels is leaving most of the performance behind. Earned media value follows the same shape, at €5,102 per reel against €2,637 per post.

His Audience Credibility Score is 74 out of 100. The audience is unusually fragmented: the largest market, the United States, accounts for only 11.60%, followed by India on 8.33% and Indonesia on 7.49%. The UK share is 1.27%, the lowest of the ten profiles here.

10. Granny Spills (@grannyspills) – 2.2M followers: the viral 75-year-old AI influencer

Platform: Instagram

Interests: Fashion, Beauty, Interiors, Travel, Lifestyle

Brand collaborations: Granny Spills has mentioned fashion brand Kurt Geiger and steakhouse Papi Steak in the six months to 2 November 2026.

Engagement rate: 1.02% overall (0.73% per post, 1.06% per reel)

EMV: Instagram posts: €39,793, Instagram reels: €43,433, Instagram Stories: €4,668

Granny Spills is a 75-year-old AI influencer created by Eric Suarez and Adam Vaserstein in July 2025. Dressed in high-fashion pink outfits, she dispenses cutting, materialistic life advice with the confidence of someone who has earned the right to say whatever she wants.

What sets Granny Spills apart from most AI influencers is the deliberate choice to build an older character. Rather than defaulting to the young, conventionally aspirational personas that dominate the space, her creators identified a gap in the market: a humorous, luxury-lifestyle influencer with a distinct generational voice. 

Granny Spills holds a Kolsquare Audience Credibility Score of 87 out of 100, the highest in this list, suggesting her following is highly authentic. This is a strong result for any influencer, and a notable one for an AI persona in a space where inflated or low-quality audiences are common.

She is also the fastest-growing profile here, up 6.57% over the six months to 2 November 2026 to 2,245,065 followers, which makes her third by audience size behind Magazine Luiza and Lil Miquela. On earned media value she is the strongest performer on reels in this list, at €43,433 per reel on an average reach of 513,622. The audience is 94.46% female and 45.33% American, with the United Kingdom third at 5.34%, behind India on 5.97%. Estimated cost runs from €34,746 to €47,776 per reel.

Why are AI influencers popular?

Here are the key reasons why AI influencers appeal to brands.

• Lower costs: AI influencers may be paying someone’s bills, but they aren’t individuals who use their likeness to promote products. As AI characters are avatars, collaborations are often lower-cost. In today’s cost-conscious marketing landscape, the offer of high reach at low cost is appealing.
• Appeal to younger generations: AI influencers resonate with Gen Z audiences, who are accustomed to digital-first entertainment and surreal humour, highlighted by viral cartoon trends like Skibidi Toilet.
• Experimentation: AI characters enable brands to differentiate themselves, test innovative creative ideas and deliver campaigns that feel playful without incurring heavy production costs.

AI influence also aligns with brands that already incorporate AI into their product offerings.

The risks of AI in influencer marketing: authenticity and regulations (ASA disclosure rules)

AI opens up new opportunities, but it also comes with risks. Consumers crave authenticity, and while AI influencers can execute polished campaigns, they’re almost too perfect. They lack the life experience, relatability and genuine connection of human influencers.

There are also legal concerns. Brands must follow regulations when collaborating with AI influencers.

The UK's advertising regulatory body, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), and social media platforms require disclosure for content featuring AI-generated personas.

Brands risk backlash if they aren't transparent. For instance, Shein was criticised for using AI-generated models.

Click here for more information about crisis management in influencer marketing.

How are AI influencers created?

How AI influencers are created depends on the type of influencer and the level of creative input behind them.

At the simpler end, AI influencers can be generated using dedicated platforms that produce a virtual character from a set of prompts about appearance, personality, niche and tone. These tools lower the barrier to entry significantly and can produce a functional AI persona with relatively little technical knowledge.

More sophisticated AI influencers are built using a combination of tools: 3D modelling software, generative AI for image and video output, and motion capture or animation to bring the character to life. These tend to feel more considered and consistent, with a distinct visual identity that holds up across content formats.

Some creators also blend AI-generated elements with real production, using AI to enhance or stylise footage rather than replace it entirely. The most successful AI influencers, such as Lil Miquela, sit closer to this end of the spectrum. 

How much do AI influencers make?

AI influencer earnings vary widely and are difficult to benchmark, partly because the space is still emerging and partly because many creators do not disclose figures publicly.

In theory, AI influencers can command rates similar to those of human creators. In some cases, they may even charge higher rates due to the novelty factor and the perception that they offer brands more control over messaging and image. And some high-profile AI influencers have reportedly earned millions through brand partnerships.

In practice, however, results are mixed. Because AI influencers are seen as lower-cost to produce than personal brands, the space is growing quickly. Unlike traditional influencers, those who create an account have no personal reputation at stake, which lowers the barrier to entry. There's a risk that of oversaturation happening quickly.

For brands, that means due diligence is required. Engagement quality, audience authenticity and narrative consistency are worth scrutinising. 

The future: hybrid human and AI campaigns

Looking ahead, the most promising path may be hybrid campaigns that combine AI’s scalability and innovation with the authenticity of human creators. AI influencers could step in for experimental, boundary-pushing concepts while human influencers build deep audience connections and solidify brand values.

Whether you're working with human creators, AI influencers or a mix of both, finding and managing the right talent at scale is the challenge. Kolsquare gives you the data to make smarter decisions, from discovering creators and analysing their audiences to tracking campaign performance.

Methodology

All audience, engagement, earned media value and estimated cost figures in this article come from Kolsquare, extracted on 2 November 2026. Performance figures cover the six months to that date. Follower counts, growth rates and audience breakdowns are as at the extraction date.

Reference network. Each profile is measured on a single network, named in its Platform line. That is Instagram for nine of the ten profiles and TikTok for Lil Miquela, which is the account this list has always cited for her. Where a figure is only available on another network, we say so in the line itself.

Currency. Kolsquare returns earned media value and estimated cost in US dollars. We convert them to euros at 1 US dollar = 0.89 euros, applied to the raw figure rather than to a rounded display value, and round to the nearest euro.

Missing data. Where Kolsquare does not serve an indicator, we say it is not available. We never substitute a zero. That applies to UK audience share for Naina Avtr, Kyra and Magazine Luiza, to Stories data for Kyra, to per-post metrics for Guggimon, and to all TikTok engagement and earned media value for Lil Miquela.

City-level audience data. Not available. Audience stats sharing is inactive on every account in this list, so Kolsquare serves no follower-by-city breakdown for any of them.

Order of this list. The order above is editorial and does not follow follower count. Ranked by followers on each profile’s reference network, the order on 2 November 2026 is: Magazine Luiza 9,841,019 (Instagram); Lil Miquela 3,300,000 (TikTok); Granny Spills 2,245,065 (Instagram); Guggimon 1,238,497 (Instagram); Aitana Lopez 403,766 (Instagram); Imma 377,377 (Instagram); Naina Avtr 339,745 (Instagram); Kyra 245,456 (Instagram); Shudu 235,478 (Instagram); Kai Wing 224,467 (Instagram). The two largest gaps are Naina Avtr, listed first and seventh by followers, and Granny Spills, listed tenth and third by followers.

What counts as an AI influencer here. Three entries are not individual AI personas. Magazine Luiza is a Brazilian retailer’s corporate account fronted by the Lu do Magalu character. Guggimon is a Superplastic studio character, held in Kolsquare under the GHOST KIDZ entity. Shudu is 3D-modelled virtual photography rather than generative AI, as her creator has said publicly. We have kept all three because they are part of how brands actually work with synthetic characters, and flagged them rather than presenting them as something they are not.