The Rise Of Black AI Influencers: A New Frontier In Exploiting Black Women's Talent
A series of Black women AI 'influencers' have popped up on social media and have rightfully caused a stir. Currently, if you do quick search for 'AI influencer' on TikTok or Instagram, the top search results that pop up are videos of AI-generated Black women, acting as caricatures, in exaggerated and stereotypical ways. It's only a matter of time before these Black women AI influencers are used by companies and brands to drive the newest trends. This article explores the newest iteration of Black women's talent, culture, and influence being extracted for gain and what can be done to combat the latest version of digital Blackface.
Black women face a concrete ceiling that makes career advancement more challenging. According to April 2025 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Black women had the most significant job losses of any demographic. Research reveals that Black women face widening and persistent disparities in the influencer industry. In one 2023 study, two Stanford researchers found evidence that influencers of color earn less than white influencers and that influencers of color are less likely to receive monetary compensation from brands compared to their white counterparts. A 2024 report from SevenSix Agency replicated these same findings—their research revealed that Black influencers earn 34.04% less than white influencers.
According to April 2025 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Black women had the most ... More significant job losses of any demographic.
Online users have noticed an unusual amount of AI-generated Black women personas have infiltrated different social media sites. With the newest crop of AI tools, the ability to create realistic, high-quality videos from text prompts is available at our fingertips. If you look closely enough, you will notice weird lighting, distortions, unnatural movements, and out of sync audio in many of these videos—but to the untrained eye, it's difficult to recognize these videos as AI-generated. Many of these videos follow a disturbing but familiar pattern—the extraction and erasure of Black women's genius, creativity, and contributions.
It's only a matter of time before corporations jump on the bandwagon and utilize similar AI-generated caricatures to push brands and sell products. Aside from the obvious ethical issue of these AI-generated personas perpetuating harmful anti-black stereotypes, there is also the attempted extraction of Black women's essence for capitalistic gain. It's important to consider this: where did the AI copy the Black woman aesthetic from? Whose images, likeness, aura, and vibes were used to train the AI? Black women influencers, without their consent or compensation, are the prototype.
It's only a matter of time before corporations jump on the bandwagon and utilize similar ... More AI-generated caricatures to push brands and sell products.
As research indicates, there is a persistent pay gap between Black influencers and white influencers. Black women will now also have to compete with AI-generated influencers. This new crop of Black women AI-generated influencers will further exacerbate these pay disparities through the potential loss of income and decreased visibility that Black women influencers will experience when companies opt to use AI-generated influencers instead of real ones.
There are steps that Black women creators can take as AI-generated personas continue to rise. Explore what legal options are available to protect and secure your image and likeness. Don't be afraid to call out instances of AI co-optation. Join collectives for influencers in your domain for support around negotiation, industry trends and ways to advocate for greater equity in the space. Educate your audience on the growing trend of AI influencers, how it harms real creators, and share ways your community can support you in real time.
It's important for more safeguards to be put in place to curtail unethical AI usage. More legislation is desperately needed, but the laws never seem to catch up with the pace of the technological advances. In an ideal scenario, public callouts would lead companies to adopt more ethical AI practices. But in a world where profits always seem to matter more than people, we cannot rely on or wait for corporations to do the right thing. The power is in the hands of the people, and our voices are formidable tools to drive change.
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