aalto1 untyped-item.component.html
Understanding AI influencers: Consumer perceptions, anthropomorphism, and effectiveness
Loading...
URL
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
School of Business |
Bachelor's thesis
Unless otherwise stated, all rights belong to the author. You may download, display and print this publication for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Authors
Date
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Language
en
Pages
46
Series
Abstract
AI influencers are becoming part of everyday marketing, appearing in campaigns and social media feeds. Their presence is growing fast, yet academic research on them remains scattered. This thesis brings the existing work into one place and reviews how AI influencers are examined in current academic research.
A bibliometric analysis of 36 peer-reviewed articles from the Web of Science database forms the base for the review. The analysis includes a structured search process, quantitative mapping of publication trends, and a qualitative thematic analysis. The findings show three themes that shape the field.
The first theme explains why consumers engage with AI influencers, including emotional responses such as enjoyment, social presence, and parasocial relationships. The second theme focuses on design choices. Findings show how anthropomorphism, realism, and social cues influence trust and comfort, including risks linked to the uncanny valley effect. The third theme compares AI influencers with human influencers across different contexts. These comparisons shows where AI influencers perform well and where human influencers remain stronger.
This paper offers a structured view of a fast-growing field and shows why AI influencers have become an important topic for marketing research. The findings highlight gaps in current research and suggests that further work is needed on trust, authenticity, and audience responses as AI personas become more common in digital marketing.