Consider seeing an advertisement on your social media feed with a seemingly real individual advertising a product. It looks beautiful at first glance—but this ‘person’ is fake. Algorithms make it possible for these realistic looking avatars, or Digital Humans, to exist, and they are changing marketing. With all of its innovation, however, it also brings new ethical concerns. This article tackles these issues of how brands balance competition, loyalty, honesty, and ethics in this new era.
What Are Digital Humans?
Let’s first define what digital humans are before heading straight to ethics. In layman’s terms, digital humans are hyper-realistic virtual avatars that behave like people. With the help of AI technologies, deep learning, motion capture, and natural language processing, these avatars are created. These avatars can speak, smile, and emote, which is convincing enough for customer service, education, and—advertising, ahem.
As for advertisers, the creation of digital humans means less spending on production, no need to deal with the hassles that come along with using real actors, and the ability to make content for specific demographics. However, everything has its pros and cons; ethical implications cannot be overlooked.
The Ethical Dilemmas at Play
1. Deception: The Most Deceiving Form of Realism
One of the most considerable issues advertising faces is deception. How would consumers feel realizing that the gorgeous model portraying them is not a human being in real life? While humans being virtual may help promote products, the accuracy captured by their resemblance may work completely opposite by destroying the confidence people place in advertisements.
Solution: They should maintain honesty. Advertisers ought to make it very clear, indeed, that a digital “spokesman” is a manmade creation. Think of it as a trust building clause that sustains credibility for years to come.
2. Consent and Intellectual Property
The likeness of real digital humans also poses an ethical problem. What if by alteration, the digital avatar becomes to closely resemble an actual person? Lawsuits are already surfacing regarding legal battles on AI likeness capturing personal and proprietary identities.
Solution: Companies are to align without repeating replicative actions, so as not to breach copyright without requisite consent. But certainly not make them with features of real existing people without proper permissions.
3. Representation and Bias
The models for AI systems will remain biased if the datasets they are built on are inherently biased. For example, a lack of diversity within digital humans can already exacerbate cultural and societal inequalities, which forms the basis for further bias.
Solution: Brands can remedy this by incorporating diversity and inclusion within the design frameworks of digital humans. Conducting comprehensive audits capturing various biases alongside inclusion of diverse training datasets can help ensure accurate representation.
4. Impact on Employment
Human actors, models, and voiceover artists are already at risk of losing their jobs on-takeover by digital humans. Although these bots are cost-efficient, replacing human resource jobs raises critical human value concerns.
Solution: Instead of replacing human employees, companies should consider a blended approach where real individuals alongside digital humans are integrated into the workforce. This balance will stimulate new innovation without eliminating existing jobs.
Navigating Legal and Regulatory Challenges
The law about digital humans is always emerging. Existing laws do not seem to cover AI avatars adequately which brings a lot of opportunities for ethical errors. Companies must go beyond what is legally required and support robust policies that govern the use of AI in marketing.
What Can Be Done?
- Support and follow self-regulating codes of ethics tailored to specifics of AI within given industries.
- Focus on lobbying efforts for new laws to fill the existing voids for legal consent, discrimination, or ownership of created works.
- Work with AI ethicists and legal advisors to maintain compliance and ethical practices.
Striking the Right Balance
Using a digital human in a commercial is a double-edged sword. On one edge lies the cynical promise of advancement, easement of costs, and novel creativity. On the other edge lies the all-too-concerning ethical issues from deception to concepts like job loss.
To avoid taking either edge, brands should follow these rules:
- Non Discretion: Explain the usage of digital humans at all times.
- Inclusiveness: Make sure that inclusivity also means free of bias.
- Responsibility: Be ready for AI’s ethical strings.
- Join forces: Collaborate with other companies in the field and develop AI’s ethical boundaries.
- Awareness: Teach the public about the application and use of digital humans.
The Future of Digital Humans in Advertising
As technology is growing, the digital world is developing new things every day. Now, digital avatars are capable of looking very realistic. However, ethics should not be put aside for the sake of commercial profits. Brands that utilize Artificial Intelligence have the opportunity to introduce innovative solutions that could benefit society, but first, those brands must face the issues directly.
Picture a situation where animated characters encourage discussions surrounding technology, morality, and even artistic expression. Wouldn’t that be great? That is a digital world where we should focus on our goals.
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