October 3, 2023

Ethical Considerations in AI Enhanced Influencer Marketing

Be it content creators or business owners, the growing prevalence of AI in content generation for influencer marketing campaigns cannot be overlooked. Chat GPT for instance, is specifically designed for generating human-like text in conversational contexts. It is trained on a vast amount of text data from the internet and is capable of understanding and generating text in a coherent and contextually relevant manner. Similarly for images, Generative AI platforms such as Midjourney and Dall-E are widely being used to create visually stunning creatives in a fraction of time. 

AI in influencer marketing assists influencers and marketers to quickly create high-quality content. It can generate engaging text and visuals, saving time and effort in content creation. AI also ensures that content remains consistent in tone, style, and messaging, even when multiple influencers are involved. This consistency helps in maintaining brand identity. In rapidly changing situations or during real-time events Ai can generate quickly, enabling influencers and marketers to stay relevant with trending topics. At the same time, upscaling content at any given time to meet the demands of a large size influencer marketing campaign.  

In a very short time, the creator economy has understood and experienced the many benefits of AI in influencer marketing. However, there are very legitimate ethical considerations in AI influencer marketing which everyone attached to the ecosystem need to be aware of. 

# 1 Disclosure of the Use of AI in Content Generation 

Disclosure of the use of AI in influencer marketing for content generation is important for several reasons. It fosters transparency and the consumer of the content should know the role of AI in development of that content. Transparency and disclosure is the fundamental principle of ethical communication. 

It also allows the audience to make an informed decision about how to engage with the content. For example, many celebrities were accused of air brushing their photos on magazine covers and indirectly promoting very unrealistic standards of beauty. However, with the body positive movement gaining traction, many social media influencers and mainstream celebrities proudly post real images of themselves or put out a disclaimer that their photos are digitally enhanced. 

For brands and creators to publicly acknowledge the use of AI in content creation also encourages responsible usage of AI. The audience and the creators understand the extent of the technology and how it can have an impact on the quality of the content, biasness as well as the develop a balanced view of things. 

# 2 Ensuring no breach of Privacy 

Breaching of privacy is a very serious issue. It has to be handled with care and brands and creators have to be mindful of it from the world go. To begin with,  brands have to inform the creator in advance that they will be using AI in influencer marketing for content generation for a specific campaign. The creator has the right to know how he/she will be portrayed in the campaign, how the creative will be used and for what duration of the campaign. 

These technicalities need to be put down in a contract and the content creator must consent to the use of AI generated content. 

Generative AI is a very technical thing and many creators may not be familiar with it. It is the duty and onus of the brand to explain to the creator the benefits and potential risk of Generative AI. 

Creators take pride in their content, and they would want to know how the technology will impact their voice and style on the platform. Disclosure of AI use helps maintain the authenticity of the creator's content by providing clarity on how it is being generated or enhanced, while ensuring privacy and security. 

# 3 Do Not Overlook the biases

AI models are often trained on large datasets from the internet, which can contain inherent biases present in the data. If the training data includes biased or under represented content, the AI model may replicate those biases in its generated content.

The technology may  prioritize generating content similar to popular or highly engaged posts. This can reinforce existing biases present in popular content and neglect underrepresented voices.

For  example, one of the biggest critiques of Generative AI from the world of fashion is that it might only generate models that are of specific race and body -type. Therefore, as a content creator and brand one has to be mindful of these inherent biases that can come up during content generation and rectify it by including large data sets and data sets that are more representative in nature. 

Conclusion 

To sum up,  although AI is a very  useful  tool to support influencer marketing , it may lead to ethical ramifications which can damage brand reputation or impact the influencer's persona in a negative way. Brands and creators need to pay close attention to the ethical considerations in Ai influencer marketing. Maintaining transparency, preserving the privacy of the creator and interest of the consumer while actively tackling the biases that may emerge due to the inherent model of AI training model, brands can foster benefits to all its stakeholders and maintain the sanctity of an influencer marketing campaign. 

galleri5 is an award winning influencer marketing company that has a track record of working on very successful campaigns across industry verticals. We have an in- depth understanding of the creator ecosystem and suggest tailor-made campaign solutions to brands. Recently, we have pandered into Generative AI to help brands leverage their emerging technology. For more information, book a demo today!

 

Kamna Datt
Content Writer
A content writer by profession, Kamna is an Influencer marketing enthusiast writing insightful articles about the space that will benefit brands and influencers alike!