But then I remembered something similar had happened to me in February as I watched the Instagram livestream of Gucci’s fall 2018 show.

Until my conversation with Nikola, it seemed like an indisputable fact that Miquela wasn’t real. How We Hijacked Lil Miquela (and Created our Own CGI Influencer)

She even complains about allergies and often references the temperature with tweets like “39 degrees out im still getting this iced matcha.” When she is photographed in the daylight, her body casts a shadow. She hangs out with real-life musicians, artists, and influencers in real-life trendy restaurants in New York and Los Angeles, where she “lives.” When Miquela holds her phone to a mirror, her reflection stares back. She wears real-life clothes by streetwear brands like Supreme and luxury labels like Chanel. She knew the answer, but something about Miquela made her question what her eyes were telling her.Īt first glance, or swipe, Miquela could understandably be mistaken for a living, breathing person. “She’s not real, right?” Nikola asked me shyly. The subject was Miquela Sousa, better known as Lil Miquela, a 19-year-old Brazilian-American model, musical artist, and influencer with over a million Instagram followers, who is computer-generated.

Over lunch this spring, Nikola Burnett, a 15-year-old who always carries two cameras - one film and one digital - sat staring at an Instagram selfie, perplexed.

Artificial girl 3 characters elsa