Year 2019 or 3000? SK-II Creates Digital Influencer Named YUMI

Can the real digital queen stand up? Sorry Miquela, but a new digital influencer is here and she’s unlike anything the digital world has ever screened, or she will be. In partnership with AI company Soul Machines, SK-II is set to develop a virtual influencer named YUMI. According to an article on marketing-interactive.com, YUMI will use Google Dialogflow as its natural language platform. She will also be able to give beauty and skin care advice. Now, before I throw my two virtual cents in, let’s dig deeper into her makeup. Unlike other ‘digital influencers’, such as Lil Miquela,  YUMI is autonomous and can process emotions through a ‘digital brain’ which causes her to react as naturally as a human would. According to  Sandeep Seth, CEO, global SK-II, she is more than just a digital influencer. In fact, she is a digital human capable of interacting and engaging in ways technology has not been able to do until now. YUMI‘s human-like personality is what her creators feel makes her stand out. Marketing-Interactive.com said of the company’s press release:

“SK-II’s latest animated digital influencer was built rapidly and can change dynamically to reflect the personality of the brand, unlike current approaches which depend on hand-tooling and significant animation, Soul Machines said. The company added in the press release that hyper-real imagery and hyper-real expressions, reactions and conversations are crucial in creating a human experience. As such, it is important for the AI influencer to not only look good, but the experience has be relatable and feel great as well.”

This article goes into much more detail about how this would benefit companies as well as consumers, and it even sheds light on the upcoming deals. However, it doesn’t really explain why such an “influencer” is needed. If something is truly autonomous, it, or she has the ability to act off her own free will. I’m getting iRobot flashbacks just thinking about it. What if our good sis YUMs has the ability to shut down the cyberspace of homes she enters? How exactly will she influence society? I don’t know about you, but when I envisioned the future I pictured time machines, and us living under water, you know, like that Jonas Brothers‘ song. As amazing as technology has improved over the last few years, somethings should just be left for humans to do.