Your Name, Your Brand? The Rise of the AI Influencer

If I mention Khaby Lame and a US$975 million deal, can you guess what I'm talking about? Recently, social media has been buzzing with the news: Rich Sparkle Holdings, a Hong Kong-based financial firm listed on the Nasdaq, has acquired a stake in Lame's company, granting them 36 months of exclusive global rights to his brand. Do you know him? He is the most-followed influencer on TikTok. His content seems very simple and easy to share. This Senegal-Italian comedian laughs at everyday life, and he has more followers on that platform than Mr. Beast. A new phenomenon?

Khabane "Khaby" Lame is a 26-year-old creator who doesn’t say a word in his videos. The faces he makes, how he throws his arms up, and a big smile are the difference-makers. Identifying other content in social media to parody is one of his biggest successes. His videos are relatable to many of us who aren't able to  follow tutorials on how to paint our walls or who have had small accidents in the kitchen, but there's a science to solving these issues easily or we can laugh at our clumsiness. A Gen Z Charlie Chaplin? A new Mr. Bean?

It is not only about showbusiness. Nor is it just another multimillion-dollar contract. With its acquisition, Rich Sparkle is allowed to create an AI version of Lame that will include his face, voice, and behaviors. As you see, the real news is that they aren’t buying a company per se. They also aren’t hiring an actor. All this digital noise is about acquiring social media attention. This isn’t just a tech bubble. It demonstrates that we are facing a different kind of business model. To give you an idea of its value, one of Mexico's most iconic teams, Club América, is worth around US$500 million on the stock market. Using the image of a TikToker with 160 million followers for three years costs almost twice as much as the infrastructure of one of the biggest Liga MX teams and all the resources that entails.

Like many other creators, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Lame opened his account and shared dance choreographies. He then landed on his “life hacks” and in less than a year, he became a leading influencer on TikTok. Nowadays, he has 360 million fans across all social platforms globally, a little bit behind Mr. Beast’s “ecosystem” with 500 million followers.  The question is whether he will catch up soon, given that Mr. Beast started working on his YouTube channel 14 years ago, while Lame has been in the spotlight for a shorter time. This deal could certainly be a major boost. Rich Sparkle stated after the agreement that "Khaby Lame's fan-based commercialization could generate more than $4 billion in annual sales."

Of course, we can't ignore the many questions that arise. Will Lame's audience be eager to see his AI version? Will they still laugh at the same jokes? Will they notice the differences? Will this be the first of many similar cases?

From the outset, AI has sparked controversy regarding intellectual property and copyright. And, beyond the high-profile disputes, here we see how a public figure is using his name and image for commercial purposes. Walter Landor once said that "products are made in a factory, but brands are created in the mind” and the fact that an influencer knows his name is his brand and that his millions of followers have a specific value is no small matter. The dilemma is whether it's ethical to "sell that capital" and whether originality and artistry aren't betrayed by allowing a company to use his content for commercial purposes. Will he have less creative freedom by restricting himself to only what guarantees numbers and not laughs?

Besides, there's nothing new in consumers being much more focused on Instagram or TikTok, viewing both as huge shop windows. It's certainly enigmatic how the markets are modeling different commerce channels. Lame knows that humor is part of his success as well as shareable content, but he is also  aware that his fame could pass at any time. Will we see the decline of these types of leaders when much of the content is created using avatars and AI? Will the algorithm or viewership change if users favor less polished, more natural content?

In a world with so much digital noise, we can’t forget Charlie Chaplin's quote on this topic: "Sound has spoiled the most ancient of the world's arts, the art of pantomime, and has canceled out the great beauty that is silence." Khaby Lame was a haven of peace and joy during the pandemic, and in the years that followed, he let us enjoy mimicry and silence. Will his leading position survive the agreement he just brokered? Did you ever imagine that we would even be debating these subjects? Ironically, we now refer to science fiction books like those of Isaac Asimov as if they were scientific. Perhaps soon we'll be citing Black Mirror.