There’s been an increase of virtual influencers in recent times– computer-generated personalities who are only as lively on social media platforms as real humans are. Many firms are investing in what’s called the “digital human economy,” a bullish market that’s forecasted to succeed in $125 billion by 2035, per Gartner.

And now, because of the fascination with AI image generators Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, creating virtual influencers is a breeze, enabling anyone to provide fabricated lives who engage with fans as in the event that they’re actual web personalities.

One such company, 1337 (pronounced Leet), is leveraging generative AI to construct a community of AI-driven micro-influencers, smaller content creators with hyper-personalized interests and diverse backgrounds who want to connect with people from area of interest communities like gardening, emo music, vintage fashion, classical literature and more.

The startup – named after a well-liked term in 80s gaming and hacker culture –emerged from stealth today with $4 million.

Relatively than only using AI to create these influencers, 1337 also allows users to suggest what they do and say.

“Today, now we have a rare opportunity to mix human interaction with early-stage AI,” co-founder and CEO Jenny Dearing told TechCrunch. “In a world oversaturated with influencers who are sometimes either too industrial or too impersonal, 1337 introduces diverse, AI-driven entities that engage users in entirely latest, dynamic ways.”

Plus, users are paid for his or her contributions. The corporate is currently offering a flat fee; nevertheless, it declined to reveal the quantity publicly.

“Once our ‘Entities’ have followings, we are going to make this fee and bonus opportunities tied to the engagement of the community with content,” Dearing said.

Dubbed “Entities,” 1337 is debuting 50 AI-driven influencers who all have their very own set of skills, traits and interests. As an example, there’s Daria (she/her, they/them), a 19-year-old unapologetic music blogger who has a passion for “emo culture” and is an “advocate for mental health,” in keeping with 1337’s website. They even have their very own backstory; after stumbling upon their cousin’s vinyl record collection, Daria resonated with the “raw emotion” within the lyrics and decided to create a blog for like-minded people combating mental health challenges.

The lives of every Entity are definitely elaborate. They even share what their home looks like, their favorite outdoor/indoor hangout spots and their philosophy on the world. 1337 offers a wide selection of Entities to follow, all with different ages, gender identities, nationalities and occupations. Plus, all of them have their very own Instagram accounts, LinkedIn profiles and public Spotify playlists. Followers may even interact with the Entities through Instagram comments and direct messages.

“Our vision goes beyond mere chatbot interactions; we’re crafting entities that evolve with their area of interest communities, adapting to the rapidly changing digital landscape where technology is evolving consistently,” Dearing added. “In doing so, we’re breaking latest ground, and we firmly imagine that this may redefine how we take into consideration social media engagement and the way people interact with one another online.”

Entities are still in beta. They may officially launch in January 2024.

Entities are created and designed by the founding 1337 team in collaboration with users and AI models like OpenAI’s GPT-4 (for written captions), Midjourney (art) and 1337’s in-house solution.

Together with Dearing, the founding team also includes co-founder Robin Raszka, who previously founded AI avatar startup Alter, which sold to Google in 2022 for $100 million. Jan Maly, a former machine learning engineer at software design company STRV, is chief technical officer. There are also a number of key strategic advisors on the team, including Bailey Richardson, former head of community at Instagram, who currently leads each marketing and community at Substack.

“In our toolkit, we leverage open-source software (OSS) large language models (LLMs) for multimedia content evaluation, specializing in images, and customised OSS LLMs integrated into our workflows,” Raszka explained to us. “Once we first ventured into generated content, we faced the challenge of maintaining consistent facial expression in our virtual entities. Our pursuit of perfection led us to develop an in-house solution… we will now add a latest entity and ensure his or her face stays consistent across images.”

To co-create with an Entity, the user participates in a Discord chat by entering a prompt to generate a caption and 4 photos of the Entity doing something, posing in a certain location or experiencing an event. 1337 also offers a mode called “Entity Point of View,” where users can envision how the Entity views the world around them.

The moderation team approves the post on the Entity’s behalf, fine-tuning content based on pre-established guidelines like their dispositions, behaviors and tone of voice. When a post is approved, the creator is credited within the caption.

“Our creators, especially Gen-Zers, are demonstrating incredible engagement with the Entities and are creating and curating way more content on a each day basis than we will publish,” Dearing said.

Eventually, 1337 will allow its “super creators” to create a very latest Entity from scratch. Next yr, the corporate may also launch a revenue model where creators that make Entities will likely be compensated a percentage of revenue.

“For instance, any brand collaborations would offer a revenue share model leaning heavily on supporting the creator vs. 1337,” Dearing said. “We’ve also discussed revolutionary models much like what Substack has done, offering creators the chance for equity within the business.”

“We’re also exploring how we may support solopreneurs and nano/micro-influencers to create latest ways of connecting with their existing communities and audiences to scale their very own businesses,” she added.

There are a number of other exciting developments within the pipeline, the corporate revealed to us, including the flexibility for Entities to talk, allowing them to host podcasts and produce videos. Audio for Entities will launch in the primary half of 2024.

Investors who participated in 1337’s funding round include Credo Ventures, GFR Fund, Treble Capital, Roosh Ventures, in addition to angels Hugging Face CEO Clément Delangue and impact investor and model Natalia Vodianova.

The first focus of the funding is to assist grow its global creator community. Thus far, several hundred people have co-created content for the Entities.

“Today, among the most dynamic applications of LLMs and diffusion models are found throughout the realms of human creativity and connectivity. This supports our conviction that the following wave of AI may have a major impact on the social media landscape, affecting creators, followers, and advertisers alike,” said Karolina Mrozkova, general partner and investor at Credo Ventures.