New Delhi, May 26 -- Brands are quietly redrawing their influencer budgets. Artificial intelligence (AI)-generated personalities are beginning to replace many nano and micro creators by offering brands the same scalable digital reach at a much lower cost. But as synthetic influencers flood the market, human creators with genuine audience trust and scale are becoming even more valuable, and commanding bigger pay cheques.

Take Manforce, the condom brand that named Myra Kapoor as its ambassador. Except Myra does not really exist. She is an AI model owned outright by the brand. "Unlike traditional ambassadors, an AI character offers greater creative flexibility and can be adapted across different campaigns, themes, and platforms. The initiat...