Germany has a new tourism ambassador—and she was created by AI

Meet Emma, Germany’s new AI-generated travel influencer who, despite her perky and warm persona, does not seem to click with travelers and content creators.

We’ve seen a lot of them in movies, advertisements, and more so mobile games. Needless to say, AI-generated characters—or avatars—are everywhere in media and entertainment. You know, the ones that we watch, play or even experiment with just for fun. 

The latest institution to hop on the trend of using machine-generated characters is the German National Tourist Board (GNTB). On Oct. 17, GNTB introduced the beautiful, travel-savvy, and multilingual “Emma.” She is Germany’s newest tourism ambassador. 

She was launched through a video on social media where she says, “Hi, I am Emma. I’m excited to take you on an amazing journey through this fascinating and inspiring country,” complete with a posh British accent. She is seen traveling through a computer-generated version of Germany by foot and by train. She holds a camera and takes snaps of the scenic country. With the fixed smile on her face and the wind blowing through her blond hair, it’s plain to see that she’s a happy traveler.

GNTB described her in a press release as a “modern, cosmopolitan Berlin resident who feels at home in the digital world. In her mid-30s and with an affinity for technology and travel, she combines her love of new technologies with her passion for traveling through Germany.” And despite having only one post on her own Instagram account, Emma has already earned 2.8K followers.

The tourism board’s long-term goal is to establish Emma as a central, indispensable component of its digital communication strategy. “With the launch of Emma as an AI influencer, we are taking a further step in our digital strategy,” GNTB CEO Petra Hedorfer said in a statement.

“Artificial Intelligence applications are an invaluable asset, providing supplementary technological support for our brand communication. Along the customer journey, Emma can act as an innovative bridge builder between potential travelers and real, unforgettable experience in Germany as early as the inspiration phase.”

The German government’s move may be considered a threat by some real-life content creators, but GNTB says there’s no need to worry. Emma is only part of the board’s established influencer marketing structure, which garnered 148 million impressions with help from “traditional” influencers last year.

“Emma cannot replace personal experiences and encounters in Germany as a travel destination, but rather optimize the customer journey of travelers in a service-oriented way,” Hedorfer stressed. She was not created to replace real-life talent but as a customer service assistant—more like a chatbot.

Emma was built with advanced deep-learning algorithms and large language models (LLMs) that enable her to engage with her followers in a chat format in over 20 languages. She gathers information from Germany’s tourism website, germany.travel, and will later be upgraded to access real-time data from the GNTB Knowledge Graph.

“You can ask questions anytime, and I’m here to answer them gladly,” the assistant said in the video. True enough, Forbes reported that Emma has been answering comments from her followers and attending to queries on the GNTB’s website since the bot’s launch.

 GNTB admitted that since 2020, an AI-supported chatbot has been answering customer inquiries on its website. “Furthermore, the GNTB has been utilizing AI to inspire end customers in the filed of immersive technologies, including virtual reality, augmented reality, and smart speaker applications, for a longer period of time now,” the Board noted. 

It also said that Emma is an “inaugural AI influencer project,” hinting that GNTB is eyeing to launch more digital influencers like her in the future.

Emma doesn’t seem to click with everyone, though. Dawit Habtermariam of the travel news site Skift pointed out how the bot’s launch is a risk for GNTB. “Germany aspires to set the standard for AI’s future in destination marketing,” he noted. “However, we wonder whether its new AI influencer can actually build an audience and earn their trust. Those tasks are challenging even for humans.”

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Meanwhile, Emma’s Instagram feed was filled with disbelief and anger from travelers and content creators before the comments were later hidden on the page. “I’m sorry but nobody wants to watch a fake AI person in a fake AI version of Germany for travel tips and inspiration,” Forbes quoted one user as saying. Another user wrote, “Please use real people with real passion for Germany,” while another one commented, “Using AI to promote your country creates a fake vibe.”

The perky Emma replied with an identical response to each one: “With the launch of Emmas as our AI influencer, we’re taking an exciting step in our digital strategy!”

Still and all, there are companies that have succeeded in pushing the use of AI characters for marketing campaigns. One of these is Los Angeles-based media company Brud—the creative genius behind one of the first and most popular virtual influencers, Lil Miquela.

Lil Miquela is a 19-year-old Latin American bot living in LA. She uses her Instagram account—which has 2.5 million followers—to share selfies with celebrities and collaborations with global fashion houses, including Prada, Chanel, Givenchy, and Moncler. 

The virtual superstar also released a single, titled “Not Mine,” which was released in 2017 and has earned 1.5 million streams on Spotify, according to Korea TimesNot only that, Lil Miquela was listed among Time Magazine’s 25 most influential “persons” on the internet in June 2018.

In 2019, global fast-food restaurant KFC launched a CGI version of its deceased founder, Harland Sanders, that is much younger and more stylish. He uses his Instagram account not only to post his “secret recipe for success” tattoo or styled gray hair and good looks but also travels around the world. 

Many companies have been using digital avatars as brand models as this gives them complete control over their image, personality, and brand messaging. Aside from that, AI influencers enable brands to experiment with their storytelling methods and engage with their customers 24/7. More importantly, digital influencers are highly used by brands for cost control. It enables them to shoot content anywhere at any time without going over budget. 

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Associate Editor

The new lifestyle.