These Al travel influencers don't want freebies

Social media posts by AI-created travel avatars cost far less to produce, yet look real. Human influencers worry they're being elbowed out

- JULIE WEED

RADHIKA'S THICK BLACK hair falls in artfully imperfect waves below her shoulders, the misty hills of northeastern India providing the backdrop to her series of Instagram posts.

The young influencer, whose skin looks impossibly flawless, perches at a wooden table at a cafe showing off her lunch, a bowl of saffron-coloured noodles, to her nearly 7,500 followers. She rhapsodises about the fiery chutneys, spices and bamboo handicrafts of the region.

But Radhika can't taste those fiery chutneys, smell the spices or buy any souvenirs. And oddly, the person behind her seems to have her head on backward. Radhika is a product of artificial intelligence. Travel companies, tourism boards and other businesses are turning to AI-created influencers like Radhika to lower costs, control messaging and create content more quickly, and human influencers fear they're being elbowed out.