Aitana, a 25-year-old pink-haired woman living in Barcelona, receives private messages from celebrities asking her out. But this model is not real. Aitana, the first Spanish model developed by artificial intelligence, was born in a difficult time.
Last summer, Rubén Cruz, designer and founder of The Clueless agency, was going through a difficult time because he didn’t have many clients. Cruz says, “We started analyzing how we work and realized that many projects were suspended or canceled for reasons beyond our control. Most of the time, this was not due to the design, but to the error of the model.”
So they decided to develop their own influencers to use as models for the brands that approached them. They developed a 25-year-old female model from Barcelona named Aitana, who has pink hair and good physical appearance.
According to its designer, the virtual model can earn up to 10 thousand euros per month, but the average earnings are around 3 thousand euros. “We did this so we could have a better life and not be dependent on other people who have egos or crazy things or just want to make a lot of money posing,” Cruz says.
Aitana’s earnings
Aitana earns just over a thousand euros per ad and recently became the face of an ad for a company called Big. Aitana also uploads her underwear photos to Fanvue, a platform similar to OnlyFans.
In just a few months, she managed to gain more than 121 thousand followers on Instagram and her photos were viewed thousands of times. She even receives private messages from celebrities who don’t realize she’s not a real person. “One day, a well-known Latin American actor texted her to ask her out.” says Cruz. “She didn’t even know Aitana existed,” he adds.
How do you animate an AI?
The agency team holds a meeting every week to direct Aitana’s life. They decide what to do during the week, which places to visit, and what photos to upload for followers who want to get to know her. But there are no photo shoots or wardrobe changes, just design experts using artificial intelligence and Photoshop to make it possible for the model to spend the weekend in Madrid, for example.
“First of all, because it wasn’t alive, we had to add some realism to it so people could relate to it in some way. We had to tell a story,” says the graphic designer.
Aitana therefore has a very distinct ‘personality’, unlike traditional models whose personalities often do not come through so they can be a ‘blank canvas’ for designers.
Developed as a fitness enthusiast, determined and with a complex character. On her website, she describes herself as outgoing and caring. “A lot of thought went into Aitana. We developed it based on what society loves most. We thought about the tastes, hobbies, and niches that have been trending in recent years,” Cruz explains.
After analyzing the trends, they realized that eastern culture had become very Europeanized in recent years, so they tried to capture that with her pink hair and playful side.
Aitana has been so successful that her designers have already developed a second virtual model, the “slightly shyer” Maia. The names were not chosen randomly either, they both contain the acronym for artificial intelligence (AI). The agency says there is a lot of demand for its personalized models.
Additionally, the overly sexualized image created by models is also criticized. In contrast, the agency states that they follow the aesthetic that has already been developed by real influencers and brands. “If we don’t follow this aesthetic, brands won’t care. To change this system, you need to change the vision of brands. The world in general is sexualized.” says.
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