The phrase 'middle-aged men are not as good as dogs' has always been regarded as a true portrayal of middle-aged men in the consumer contempt chain. Women who love to primp buy cosmetics and clothes, women who live at home buy kitchenware and food, but when it comes to men, it seems to be 'thermos cups of goji berries' or 'a fishing rod to fight the world'.
And on the content platform, a group of beautiful-faced, proudly-builtAI BeautiesTalents, however, have turned their gleaming gaze on the ever-so-neglected middle-aged men.
"A single mother after 80 years", like most real people, "Auntie" wrote her personal introduction on her homepage. But a closer look at the content of her short videos still reveals a hint of something amiss. In the videos, she has an iconic smile but a dull face, a curvaceous figure but no interaction at all. The same angle and background, sometimes displaying different products, carefully distinguish, and even hear a different tone of voice in the video.
Faced with the confusion of some watchers, the platform gave an answer at the bottom of the video: The content is suspected to be AI-generated.AI beautyBut that didn't stop some fans from sending roses in the comments section, while others simply greeted her with
relying onAI Beauty VideosThe number of followers of "Little Auntie" is as high as 1.1 million. Cain's mom's data show that in February this year, "sister-in-law" released 118 videos, with total sales of 75,000-100,000 yuan. In December last year, the number of videos was as high as 258, with total sales of 250,000-500,000 yuan.
The average daily release of about 10 videos, each video output value of nearly 1,000 yuan, it can be said that the ability of 'sister-in-law' has outperformed a considerable portion of the small and medium-sized anchors. And on the Internet platform, like 'sister-in-law', such AI beauty anchors are not an isolated case.AI Beauty, is not an isolated case. They are a link in the assembly line, behind which lies a hidden chain of mass production.
AI Beauty, Targeting Male Customers in Sinking Markets
A second before the camera, a beauty wearing a strapless dress and smiling at the camera, the next second, a row of neatly arranged windproof lighters unexpectedly appeared on the screen. There is no extra voiceover introduction, and the yellow letters on the screen clearly marked the focus of this video: lighters, a few cents, limited time price, quickly grab.
Sugar Sugar with 1,276,000 fans is likewise an AI beauty anchor. No plot, no persona, Sugar Sugar's bandwagon label is extremely obvious. Cain's mom's data shows that Sugar Sugar released a total of 71 videos in February, of which the number of videos with goods accounted for about 93%, reaching 66.
Like the hot and sexy dancers, AI beauties also attract mainly male users. The number of male fans of 'sister-in-law' accounts for 86.28%, and in terms of age data, users over 40 years old account for more than 60%. The male fans of Sugar Sugar account for as high as 92.11%. Nearly half of the fans are over 50 years old.
On the market, most of the goods emphasized by people are in the young market, high-unit-price products, and female users. Compared to the AI beauty influencers, they seem to be walking a very 'cold' road. Their target is: the sinking market, low-unit-price products, and middle-aged and elderly male users.
It is also evident from their selection of products. In addition to lighters that cost a few cents, there are also steel-core nylon ropes for 6.88 yuan, and old Beijing cloth shoes for 6.99 yuan.
When you see this price, many people will have doubts: so cheap, can these products make money? Open Sugar Sugar's bandwagon report card, sales rankingsFirstlyThe best-selling product is the razor priced at $6.99, with a commission of 16%; the second highest seller is the black pepper seeds priced at $9.90, with a public commission of up to 50%. These products, which focus on being cheap and practical, not only have commission rates higher than most people would expect, but also have a negligible return rate compared to categories such as apparel.
Among the AI beauties, there are those who rely on face value and those who rely on providing emotional value, and "Chocolate, Little Lemon" has 10.49 million followers on the Jieyin platform. Most of her videos are half-length images, posted in about 30 seconds, and are mostly centered on men. For example: "Why do many men now choose to live alone?" "Boys who can enjoy loneliness are not ordinary simple people" "If you hang a man out to dry for too long, even if he loves you again, he will choose to leave" ......
Many male fans call 'Chocolate, Little Lemon' the 'woman who knows her best'. However, if you look closely, the mouth shape of 'Chocolate, Little Lemon' in the video does not match the lines, and there are obvious signs of AI generation, but almost no one has raised doubts.
In the Jitterbug platform, in addition to the system's small print reminder, recognizing AI anchors still relies mainly on the naked eye, with some blurring of the edge line between the digitized person and the background, a more rigid posture, and less smooth changes in the mouth shape. Young people who are familiar with Internet routines naturally have a certain ability to distinguish them, but for users from the sinking market who do not understand AI technology, distinguishing them is not an easy task.
Some people are busy getting money, while others are busy defending their rights.
After the AI trend became popular, 'how to seize the new wind and make money through AI' has become a hot topic for many people. On the Little Red Book, the number of notes related to AI money-making is over 30,000, and the number of notes related to AI anchors is over 20,000.
Successful cases like
We have checked the promotional content of the AI bandwagon video generation software on quite a few platforms. In the video, we can see the detailed operation steps. First, select the goods according to the bandwagon preference, enter the second creation page, and then edit the content according to the line copy reference generated by the example. After the goods and content are built, on the human side, you can not only choose the AI models who appear in the scene, but also match them with different character voices. There are several options such as entertainment broadcast, sweet narration, and strong girl, etc.
In the promotional content, users only need to tap their fingers on their phones, and within a minute they are able to easily produce a video featuring an AI host.
In order to attract users, the software platform also puts out very attractive data, such as this month's output commission of 1,756,600 yuan, the newbie 7-day single sales of 2,354 yuan and so on. "After the live bandwagon, AI graphic bandwagon will be the next wind port", on the Internet platform, this kind of statement also abounds.
From a technical point of view, it is not a very high threshold to reproduce in bulk the videos of 'sister-in-law' and sugar candy. Their videos almost do not involve interactive effects, just pictures or fixed videos, sound effects, and product splicing. But the actual bandwagon effect, whether it can reach the promotional content as said, needs to be put in a big question mark. Liar companies, pure cut leeks, real pig farms...... on the Black Cat platform, many people attracted by AI bandwagons have issued the voice of their rights. AI bandwagon-related complaints are as high as 329, most of which the reason for the rights are 'false propaganda'.
A consumer who spent nearly 400 yuan to buy a software membership told reporters that the video effect generated by the software is very rough, and the so-called mentor running with it is almost ineffective. Some AI software will even use the way to earn commissions to promote paid members to develop new downlines.
AI digital people in an awkward position
Whether it is the launch of short video people, or replica live broadcasting room with goods anchor, AI digital people is no longer a fresh topic. In 2022, the head anchor Yu Dagongzi and his own twin people interacted with each other; in May last year, Li Jiaqi and the virtual person AYAYI launched a cross-dimensional dialogue; in order to fill some cold time slots, virtual people have also become a resident member of many brands' live rooms.
But we can't deny that, for now, AI beauty anchors still haven't entered the mainstream market.
First of all, visually, there is still a difference between an avatar and a real person. In the view of many consumers, the virtual person is more like a soulless holster, lacking the intimacy of interacting with a real person. Secondly, the technology of the virtual person is still stuck in visual recognition, and the output of content information is still relatively thin. When leaving a message in the virtual person's live room without a real person to operate, they can only recognize fixed keywords and output prepared standard speech. Finally, the key to keeping users sticky is usually the persona of the daren and the unique personality of each user, which is also lacking in virtual people.
Not only has it not entered the mainstream market, but many businesses on the market have used AI to exploit legal loopholes for profit.
The AI anchor who resembles Yang Mi
"I thought it was Li Kui, but I didn't think it was a ghost", during 315, the news of fake Yang Mi and fake Liu Yifei selling weight loss tea in the live broadcasting room attracted a lot of people's attention. In order to capitalize on the influence of the stars, some merchants use AI to change their faces so that they can give their own live room stand. In the face of consumer skepticism, they keep quiet. Not long ago, the incident of a businessman using AI technology to resurrect a deceased star also met with the star's family calling it quits and public opinion.
It's conceivable that as technology continues to evolve, it will become less and less difficult to manufacture AI beauties in bulk. But for the manipulators behind it, technology is only one part of improving human efficiency. To achieve effective and sustainable business transactions, product selection, operation, and even luck are all indispensable.