Vodafone Ad Features AI-Generated Influencer

During a recent trip to Germany, I opened TikTok and encountered a Vodafone advertisement featuring a presenter who likely isn't real. Several clues point to her being an AI-generated creation: her hair moves unnaturally, moles appear and vanish, and her facial expressions carry an unsettling, uncanny valley quality. Vodafone confirmed my suspicions in the video's comment section.
When a viewer questioned why the company didn't use a real person, Vodafone responded—according to a machine translation of the German text—that it was "testing different advertising styles, this time with AI." In another comment, the company noted that "AI is now so integrated into daily life that we're exploring its use in advertising as well."
The ad certainly grabbed my attention, though primarily because my brain immediately detected something was not quite right.
This isn't Vodafone's first experiment with generative AI in marketing. Last year, the telecom released a commercial where every scene was AI-generated. Meanwhile, artificially crafted influencers are gaining traction. As reported by the New York Times, examples like Lil' Miquela—a digital persona developed by Dapper Labs—have already starred in campaigns for brands such as Calvin Klein, Prada, and BMW.
Related article
WordPress.com now allows AI agents to write and publish posts, plus more
WordPress.com, the popular web hosting and publishing platform, is now embracing AI agents—a move that could reshape the look and feel of the web. The company announced Friday that it will allow AI agents to draft, edit, and publish content on custom
Kakao Mobility outlines Level 4 autonomous driving roadmap for physical AI
Kakao Mobility is planning to develop Level 4 autonomous driving technologies internally as part of its physical AI strategy.
At the 2026 World IT Show conference in Seoul's COEX, Kim Jin-kyu — vice president and head of Kakao Mobility's Physical AI
Barry Diller: Trust in Sam Altman irrelevant as AGI nears
Barry Diller, the billionaire media titan, does not believe OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is untrustworthy, despite recent reports suggesting otherwise. Speaking at the Wall Street Journal's "Future of Everything" conference this week, Diller defended Altman
Related Special Topic Recommendations
Comments (1)
0/500
Ça devient flippant de voir des publicités avec des avatars IA qui ressemblent presque à des vrais humains... Les grains de beauté qui apparaissent et disparaissent, c'est vraiment pas fin comme détail. Vivement les régulations sur l'utilisation de l'IA en marketing, avant qu'on ne s'y perde complètement 😅

During a recent trip to Germany, I opened TikTok and encountered a Vodafone advertisement featuring a presenter who likely isn't real. Several clues point to her being an AI-generated creation: her hair moves unnaturally, moles appear and vanish, and her facial expressions carry an unsettling, uncanny valley quality. Vodafone confirmed my suspicions in the video's comment section.
When a viewer questioned why the company didn't use a real person, Vodafone responded—according to a machine translation of the German text—that it was "testing different advertising styles, this time with AI." In another comment, the company noted that "AI is now so integrated into daily life that we're exploring its use in advertising as well."
The ad certainly grabbed my attention, though primarily because my brain immediately detected something was not quite right.
This isn't Vodafone's first experiment with generative AI in marketing. Last year, the telecom released a commercial where every scene was AI-generated. Meanwhile, artificially crafted influencers are gaining traction. As reported by the New York Times, examples like Lil' Miquela—a digital persona developed by Dapper Labs—have already starred in campaigns for brands such as Calvin Klein, Prada, and BMW.
WordPress.com now allows AI agents to write and publish posts, plus more
WordPress.com, the popular web hosting and publishing platform, is now embracing AI agents—a move that could reshape the look and feel of the web. The company announced Friday that it will allow AI agents to draft, edit, and publish content on custom
Barry Diller: Trust in Sam Altman irrelevant as AGI nears
Barry Diller, the billionaire media titan, does not believe OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is untrustworthy, despite recent reports suggesting otherwise. Speaking at the Wall Street Journal's "Future of Everything" conference this week, Diller defended Altman
Ça devient flippant de voir des publicités avec des avatars IA qui ressemblent presque à des vrais humains... Les grains de beauté qui apparaissent et disparaissent, c'est vraiment pas fin comme détail. Vivement les régulations sur l'utilisation de l'IA en marketing, avant qu'on ne s'y perde complètement 😅





Home






