A Deep Dive into AI-Generated Avatars and Virtual Influencers
A new trend has gone viral on social media: AI-generated avatars are everywhere – from Ghibli-style images to Marvel superheroes and action figures. But what are avatars actually? And what opportunities do they open up for marketing?
It’s the year 2025: The world’s population is estimated to amount to 8.052 billion people. Almost 70 percent of them are virtually connected to each other via the World Wide Web. Around two-thirds of them have a chat account or a presence on a social media platform, often complete with an online alias. Most of the more than five billion profiles are accompanied by a (realistic) photo.
All these images have one thing in common: Profile pictures are intended to express individuality.
The classic profile picture is the selfie. Another ever-popular motif is a perfectly staged vacation photo with a sunset in the background. Or a snapshot showing the profile owner with their arms around their partner, children, friends, or pet. On the other extreme, there are those who consciously avoid showing their own likeness in their digital persona and opt for abstraction instead. A Jackson Pollock as a profile picture, an animal face, or a photo of a celebrity – there’s no limit to the possibilities here.
What is an avatar actually? And what is a profile picture?
So that we don’t annoy those people who take the Internet very seriously and spend a lot of time reading and thinking about it, we should provide a definition of an avatar at this point – because there’s a small but subtle difference between an avatar and a profile picture.
The term “avatar” with reference to an online alias can be traced back to the 1992 cyberpunk classic Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.
“The people are pieces of software called avatars. They are the audiovisual bodies that people use to communicate with each other in the Metaverse.”
A digital representation of a person (including a fictional character) is called an avatar. A (more or less) realistic representation of this individual is a profile picture.
Whether they are realistic, photographed, animated, sketched, complex, or simple, avatars serve to ensure a person’s individuality online and are therefore by definition unique – or, given that there are now more than five billion users, at least in theory. Avatars are primarily used in forums, online messaging, and gaming and on social media platforms.
AI-generated avatars: the major trend for 2025
What began with Memojis, Bitmojis, and Instagram avatars in the 2010s accelerated rapidly when generative AI became widely available. And when OpenAI gave all ChatGPT users access to the groundbreaking GPT-4o image generation model in April 2025, things really took off: Portraying oneself in any imaginable stylized form went viral on social media. For a few weeks, the most popular social avatars were magical images in the Ghibli style, inspired by the works of Japanese animator and cinematic genius Hayao Miyazaki. A few weeks later, AI-generated profile pictures took the form of charming action figures complete with packaging. The Internet witnessed countless versions of Peter Parker and Batman.
Virtual AI influencers
Even before the excitement surrounding generative AI erupted, virtual influencers already existed. But the AI wave took this trend to a whole new level. Collaborating with digital personas has many advantages: AI-generated influencers are punctual and never get carried away and let questionable remarks slip. What’s more, they don’t need any breaks, and for companies looking to use virtual influencers in their marketing, they’re relatively inexpensive.
One of the best-known examples is Lu. She was created back in 2009 and is particularly popular in her home country, Brazil.
AI-generated avatars help with grieving
Various companies provide a facility for bringing deceased loved ones virtually back to life using AI. They generate 3D simulations of the departed that exhibit their typical behavioral patterns and have their memories. Perhaps you’re wondering what the point of all this is? These digital personas are designed to give the deceased a digital afterlife. By allowing the bereaved to have conversations with them, the idea is to make the grieving process easier. In the US and Asia in particular, growing numbers of people are already planning their post-life online presence, and an entire digital afterlife industry has sprung up.
Creating digital personas: The innovations behind the AI avatars on the DDA shortlist
What sounded like science fiction just a few years ago is now a reality: AI avatars are taking marketing, communication, and creative work by storm. But what does this mean for creation and the customer experience? Two recent use cases have made it on to the shortlist for the 2025 German Digital Awards (DDA). They show how influential AI-generated avatars already are in brand communication – and what future developments we can expect to see.
Case 1: Kenna – The first AI-powered virtual beauty assistant
Kenna was created by DEPT® for cosmetics retailer essence. The result is a beauty assistant who does more than just answer questions. Kenna recognizes speech, provides personalized product recommendations, and analyzes trends – all in real time and with a human-like voice and facial expressions.
The technology behind this digital persona is impressive: a proprietary generative AI framework, OpenAI’s Whisper for speech recognition, a custom-generated voice by ElevenLabs, and a 3D character with distinctive gestures and lip synchronization. Kenna was launched as an interactive installation, giving customers their first chance to chat with her one-on-one – a chance to have emotional and personal conversations on equal terms.
This use case shows how AI avatars can revolutionize the dialogue between a brand and its community – as personal, smart, and entertaining touchpoints. For companies, they open up the potential to scale customer advice, service, and brand loyalty while maintaining a human touch – with 24/7 capacity in any language.
Case 2: Namae Koi – The artificial artist
Namae Koi isn’t a real person – but she is a real artist. The artificial audiovisual artist (AAVA) creates music, plays roles, tells stories, and models. Namae Koi moves between the human world and the realm of machines – with a clear goal: to produce an emotional response and redefine creativity.
Her existence raises many questions: What does “real” mean today? Where does innovation begin? And where does identity end? Namae Koi is a taster of what we can expect to see in entertainment, creativity, and brand messaging in the future.
AI-generated avatars such as Koi enable completely new narratives and forms of expression – for artists, brands, and entire industries. They open new avenues for creatives to construct identities and tell stories free from the constraints of physical limitations.
“Both of these impressive use cases reveal one thing: AI avatars are more than just hype. They open up new scope for brand showcasing, community interaction, customer service, and creative design. Whether they’re beauty advisers or artificial artists – AI-generated avatars are here to stay,” says Kai Ebert, director of growth at SYZYGY and jury president for this year’s DDA awards.
On May 15, we’ll tune in to the big award ceremony to find out if these two use cases will be taking one of the prizes home with them.
