With her flawlessly rendered appearance and dramatic digital narratives, virtual influencer Lil’ Miquela has been challenging ideas of authenticity on Instagram since 2016. Why are brands and social media users embracing these CGI celebrities and could they ever replace their human counterparts?

Beauty is in the throes of revolution. As people move away from the idealised to a celebration of real people, brands have an exciting opportunity to tap into the new beauty wave. With its #SephoraSquad, Sephora is going further, inviting everyday people to become influencers for the brand.

Online influencers have shaped the way people interact with brands since the advent of social media, adding context to products outside of typical advertising channels. But the idea that more followers equate to more consumer sway is not always true. How exactly is influencer marketing evolving?

Special effects animators estimate that we’re less than ten years away from creating computer-generated characters that are almost indistinguishable from their human counterparts. As CGI and AI edge closer to replicating human likeness and behaviour, will being ‘real’ matter to future audiences?