Companies have been using characters for years to create a recognizable brand identity. It’s a good way to get people to remember your brand and feel more connected. In fact, people tend to trust characters more than real people because characters don’t trigger inherent, unconscious biases. But while most brand characters in the past have been cartoon characters (think Tony the Tiger) and actors playing silly roles (think Max Headroom), today’s brand characters – or avatars – have become surprisingly realistic, thanks to AI. 

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AI avatars are digital personas that mimic human behavior, speech, and facial expressions, and they look surprisingly real. In fact, the videos generated with Google’s Veo 3 are impressively hyper-realistic and people can’t stop talking about it. 

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Businesses are using AI avatars as part of their video marketing strategy because it makes personalization easy and cost-effective. They’re also using AI avatars to represent their brand across multiple platforms. For example, AI avatars pose as company representatives, employees, paid sponsorships, and even satisfied customers. Since user-generated content (UGC) has been shown to elicit a high level of trust from consumers, brands are taking advantage of AI to create videos that realistically mimic all types of UGC. 

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There’s no doubt AI-generated videos have become nearly seamless, but this technology comes with a profound set of ethical challenges. These avatars aren’t real people, but does that matter if the message is genuine? Should consumers trust them? How can companies remain transparent when the face of their brand isn’t real? As brands dive deeper into their digital marketing strategies and AI avatars become more lifelike, it’s critical to explore the moral implications of using them in brand storytelling.

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False authenticity can shatter trust

People value authenticity more than anything. According to statistics, 90% of millennials say that brand authenticity plays a key role in their purchase decisions. They want to feel like they’re engaging with real people when they connect with the brands they love. 

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AI avatars complicate the expectation of authenticity by presenting simulated interactions as genuine. While avatars can represent brand values and communicate messages, they can also create a false sense of human connection when they appear real. After that connection is made, when the avatar is revealed to be AI, trust is lost. 

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Realistic AI-generated avatars are illusory

When AI-generated avatars are presented as real humans, it raises concerns about deception. AI is already a touchy subject, and many people don’t like it at all. Consumers don’t want to be tricked into believing AI is real, so you’d think that disclosing the use of AI would support credibility. But research from the University of Arizona Eller College of Management found that trust drops when the use of AI is disclosed. After conducting 13 experiments, researchers found the following:

·      Students lost trust when learning a professor used AI for grading their work

·      Firms lost 18% of investor trust when ads disclosed the use of AI

·      Clients lost trust in graphic designers by 20% after AI disclosure

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Surprisingly, the people who lost trust when AI was disclosed included those who use AI themselves. This research suggests that disclosure won’t counteract lost trust – it can actually cause it. 

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Most people come to the table expecting brands to use real people in their video marketing campaigns. And that’s why disclosure doesn’t always make a difference. You’re basically disclosing that you’re doing something your customers already disapprove of. Until more people view AI as a valid way to generate content, it’s going to be touchy.

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Are AI avatars really that good?

Another consideration is the quality of AI personalities. Sure, some applications produce amazingly realistic avatars – and you can even clone yourself to generate content on demand that uses your voice just by uploading an audio file. It’s impressive. But even when the visuals and audio feel human, it doesn’t take long to notice the lack of depth. Generative AI can only mimic human movement and speech on the surface. It lacks the depth of genuine human action like spontaneous emotions, reactions, and expressions. For example, hand movements are usually limited and tend to loop repetitively.

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There’s no comparison between a human brand ambassador and an AI avatar. AI avatars don’t have the lived experiences or emotional nuances required to project depth. Their personalities are simply programs, and it shows. It’s hard to make a virtual avatar look like it cares or has feelings. This alone can undermine the authentic storytelling required to build a connection with your audience.

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People form emotional connections to fictional characters

Humans are wired for connection, but they don’t just form bonds with other humans. Many people form strong emotional bonds with fictional characters, and that presents another moral dilemma. If you present an AI avatar as the face of your brand, and people connect emotionally to that character, they’re going to feel disappointed and possibly angry when they find out it’s not a real person. 

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Your audience will emotionally invest in the characters who represent your brand. People are always forming parasocial relationships with people they’ve never met, including fictional characters. And the feelings they develop aren’t shallow. Many people feel deep emotional connections to fictional characters. If you present these characters as real people, and your customers find out it’s just AI, they’re going to feel betrayed, and that is poison for your brand.

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People don’t like to feel duped. If the emotional hook that drew them in turns out to be a trick, it will break trust and can damage your reputation. There is a fine line between creative storytelling and emotional manipulation, and if you use AI avatars, you need to walk that line carefully. 

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Job displacement ethics

Forrester predicts that by 2030, AI will eliminate 2.4 million jobs in the United States. Thanks to the advances in generative AI technology, it’s safe to assume many of those jobs will be related to front-line brand interaction, like customer service. It’s already happening with marketing – people are paying $100-$500+ per month for access to generative AI tools to avoid the cost of hiring human talent.

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If you use AI avatars to avoid paying real people to tell your brand’s story (or telling it yourself), you may not be saving money in the long run. While you do need to make smart financial decisions for your business, it’s worth considering the impact.

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Using AI avatars for testimonials and reviews is illegal

Customer testimonials play a huge role in brand storytelling, but you can’t use AI avatars for this purpose. It’s not just an ethical dilemma – it’s illegal and the FTC is cracking down hard with fines of up to $52,000.

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The FTC requires businesses to maintain documented records and signed agreements from every person whose testimonial appears on their website or in their marketing. Businesses must also personally substantiate any claim made in a testimonial.

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This means you can’t just make up a “Joe from Saratoga” who says your coaching saved his marriage. If Joe isn’t real, and his experience never happened, you’re not just misleading customers – you’re violating federal law.

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You also can’t use AI avatars posing as random, satisfied customers, even if they’re just spouting generic praise. The FTC considers that a testimonial and it falls under the definition of deceptive marketing.

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This makes it a little harder to use AI avatars – you have to be careful about what they say and the impressions they give your audience.

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Intellectual property rights

Since generative AI models are trained on real people, including celebrities, there’s a chance that something you generate might resemble an existing person even if you don’t do it on purpose. People have a legal right to their own publicity and likeness, and they can sue for IP infringement even if it’s just a coincidence. That’s exactly what Scarlett Johansson did when she found out ChatGPT had just launched a voice that was similar to hers. Just a year prior, Johansson was asked to voice the ChatGPT system, but she declined. 

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If you aren’t familiar with a lot of celebrities, you might not notice if your AI avatars bear any resemblance. However, you can still be held accountable.

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Once trust is broken, it’s hard to rebuild. Using AI avatars might create immediate engagement but can cost you brand credibility over time. Those short-term gains can cost you plenty if customers feel misled or manipulated emotionally. 

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Worse, if there’s an error in your video content, it could go viral and attract negative attention. For instance, if your avatar has a missing finger, elements in your video are off, or your content glitches, your brand image can take a hit. You and your team might not notice the issues, but someone out there will. Building sustainable trust requires technical accuracy, and generative AI isn’t there yet.

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The exception

On the other hand, if done correctly, a synthetic AI avatar can successfully become a well-loved face of your brand. The catch? It can’t look too real. 

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A lot of successful, well-known, multi-million-dollar brands are represented by fictional characters. For example, look at the cereal aisle in the grocery store – you’ll see iconic cartoon characters everywhere. Some of the most iconic brand mascots are silly, but they’ve been wildly successful for decades. And even though the Quaker Oats Man looks like a real person, he’s clearly just a character.

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That’s exactly why all of these brand mascots are successful – they’re characters. They have personalities, names, and back stories, but they’re obviously not real. And if you’re going to use a fake AI avatar to be the face of your brand, it’s best to create it as a character, not a real human.

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Authenticity is about more than factual correctness

At the end of the day, authenticity isn’t just about telling the truth about your products and services. Authenticity requires transparency and not leading people on. It’s an emotional and ethical alignment between your story and how you choose to tell it.

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How to use AI avatars ethically for brand storytelling

So, how can brands use AI in video marketing without losing consumer trust? There are several ways. 

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1. Don’t make AI avatars your main brand image

AI avatars can be engaging, scalable, and cost-effective, but they should never be the entire identity of your brand. A fully synthetic persona risks making your brand appear inauthentic, especially when used to replace human storytelling.

AI avatars are great for tasks that don’t carry emotional weight, like short ads that deliver an informational message or action shots to capture attention (provided the avatar isn’t being presented as anyone specific, like a customer or employee). 

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2. Use humor with your AI avatar

Humor gives AI avatars personality and will show your customers you don’t take yourself too seriously. This will make your brand feel more human. You can even leverage the shortcomings of AI by intentionally creating glitches and mistakes to provide obvious transparency and make people laugh at the same time.

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3. Make your AI avatar content less believable

Ironically, one of the best ways to use AI avatars is to make them less realistic. Using exaggeration, satire, and over-the-top visuals will tell your audience that what they’re seeing isn’t meant to be real. By making your AI avatar clearly fake, you allow room for parody and humor in your storytelling, which avoids misleading audiences.

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Use AI avatars carefully

The bottom line is to treat AI as a creative asset and helpful tool, not a finished product. Rather than publishing raw AI-generated visuals and avatars, involve humans in the process of designing, editing, and doing voiceovers. This is what you need to qualify for copyright protection anyway, and your output will feel more intentional. 

It’s important to maintain a real human face and voice to build trust with your customers. Featuring human employees, customers, and founders in your brand storytelling will always be the best way to maintain transparency and generate personal connection.

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AI-generated content is hard to work with

No matter how good AI gets, it can never replicate the human touch required to create a high-quality final video. And without professional video editing experience, your AI-assisted videos are likely going to stand out as a little bit odd. Your videos need to be reviewed and edited by a real human. It’s the only way to create polished content and catch those small glitches that distract viewers and diminish the impact of your message. 

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At the end of the day, authenticity isn’t just about telling the truth. It’s about presenting your brand in a way that aligns with your values, intentions, and audience expectations. It’s about maintaining consistency between what you say and what you stand for. And if you value authentic connections with your customers, making an AI avatar the face of your brand is sketchy. 

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When you use AI even just as an assistant, the bar for authenticity is higher. You still need a human touch to create professional content, reach your target audience, and maintain trust with your customers.

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Whether you’re an established brand or just getting started, we’re here to help bring your story to life. Our professional video producers know exactly how to create engaging videos that capture attention, convert, and build brand loyalty. We can integrate the power of AI tools without sacrificing authenticity, creativity, or trust. From concept to final cut, we blend cutting-edge technology with powerful human storytelling to make your brand unforgettable.

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