Mahatma Gandhi holding a salt pack and saying, 'why march?' or an ancient Chola king reacting to modern breakfast to Gen Z slang. Artificial intelligence (AI)-generated historical figures are going viral across social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok . While brands are watching closely, few are ready to jump in, while others dismiss ' deadfluencers ' as nothing more than a viral gimmick.According to Zebracat AI, AI-generated videos are expanding at an annual rate of about 35%, with forecasts suggesting the market could approach $15 billion by 2030.Data from business intelligence platform Statista indicates that companies are allocating roughly 10-15% of marketing budgets to influencer marketing , with a growing share directed toward AI-driven campaigns.However, influencer marketing agencies and experts believe that the AI-powered marketing strategy is still in its nascent stages and not yet mature enough to drive substantial returns.Aditya Gurwara, cofounder and head of brand alliances at AI-powered influencer marketing platform Qoruz, said, 'As of now, we haven't seen brands actively collaborating with AI-generated pages that use historical figures, at least not in any significant or structured way. The interest is more observational. Everyone's watching the trend, but not many are willing to bet on it yet.'The Bengaluru-based startup Quroz has offered AI-powered recommendations for major brands like Amazon, L'Oréal, Flipkart, Titan, Dabur, Domino's, and Kotak Mahindra Bank, among others.'I think it is still experimental, but as AI is progressing, people will start using it to make good AI-based creators and concepts, and then things might change,' added Piyush Agrawal, cofounder, CREATE, an influencer marketing and talent management agency.As AI storytelling explodes in reach and realism, a new frontier is emerging—one where the past is remixed for the algorithm, and influence doesn't end with death.On Instagram, the AI-generated videos on historical events and personalities have reached millions of views within a few days, with an average engagement rate of 3.5%, and the dominant GenZ demography is the trendsetters, Quroz's Gurwara told ET, adding that Gen Z enjoys the playful remix of history and pop culture.Data from InBeat, a data-driven influencer marketing platform that connects brands with targeted micro- and nano-influencers on TikTok and Instagram, sourced from Umer Madhiya, senior account manager at White Rivers Media shows that around 80% of this demographic follow influencers on social media, with a significant majority comfortable with AI-driven personalities.Thus, analysts believe such brand storytelling can unlock opportunities that weren't possible before.'AI-powered storytelling can potentially bring the cost down if this starts happening. Brands will also be able to execute on faster turnaround times. But I am not sure how long it will take for AI creators to become mainstream,' CREATE's Agarwal told ET.But sustainability remains a concern, as pointed out by Gurwara: 'Right now, anyone with access to the right tools can create a viral AI clip featuring a historical figure. But building and sustaining influence (like a human influencer), a loyal audience that engages consistently...requires much more than novelty.'Furthermore, analysts said 'deadfluencers,' or creators, tend to see a spike during a viral moment, but keeping that momentum is challenging.While AI-generated trends surge on social media, grabbing engagement, experts highlight the possible consequences for the audience.Karthik Srinivasan, a communications strategy consultant who was part of companies like Flipkart, Ogilvy, and Edelman, said that while the trend to recreate well-known historical figures has improved storytelling, it can be misused to spread lies.'AI videos can be used to retell actual historical stories in interesting ways (what was being done by comic books, like Amar Chitra Katha in India). But this idea can also be used destructively by making historical figures say things that are not true,' he said.He also mentioned the need to specify a genre for such videos to avoid factual errors and misrepresentation.'In literary fiction, this is a legitimate genre called 'alternate history' or 'historical fiction,' but they are strictly placed under such genres, and people buying such titles clearly know what they are reading. But online, via short Instagram reels or TikTok videos with no disclaimer whatsoever, they could cause a whole lot of damage,' he added.Responsible AI has long been talked about in discussions. ET reported that there has been a 10-fold increase in complaints related to morphed images or deep nudes created through advanced tools.In this case, too, experts highlight key ethical concerns.'We still don't have a regulatory framework around the use of historical public figures in AI content. What feels like a harmless joke to some people could be deeply hurtful to others. So, while AI can put your brand on a FIFA World Cup main stage or into a freedom movement scene, it's still unclear whether it should,' Gurwara said.On the legal side, Pratishtha Arora, chief executive at Social & Media Matters, a non-profit under the VAAP Cyber Suraksha Foundation, said, 'We need robust AI laws to address the risks and changing behavioural patterns that come with AI-driven content, but regulation cannot be superficial or limited.''As AI use explodes in popularity, we must take its potential harms seriously, with meaningful consequences for unethical or misleading applications,' she added.
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