How to Create an AI Influencer & Make Money (2026)

How to Create an AI Influencer & Make Money (2026)

Learn how to create virtual influencers with artificial intelligence, build a real audience and monetize your project from scratch without ever appearing on camera. If your goal isn't to build a virtual character but to produce anonymous content in any format, take a look at our guide to faceless content.

Short answer: An AI influencer is a fully digital character created with AI tools like Midjourney, Flux or HeyGen that builds a real audience and earns money on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. To create one, define a niche and personality, generate a face-consistent avatar, post regularly, and monetize through brand deals, affiliates, subscriptions or digital products. You don't need to code or show your face but you do need strategy and consistency.

In this article

1. What is an AI influencer (and is it a real opportunity)?

An artificial intelligence influencer is a fully digital character generated with AI tools that behaves like a real person on social media. It has a face, a name, a personality, a lifestyle and, most importantly, real followers who interact with its content.

Unlike an anonymous profile or a meme account, a virtual influencer has a coherent visual identity: it appears in different settings, wears different outfits and tells a believable story. All generated by artificial intelligence, with no need for a real person to step in front of the camera.

The idea isn't new characters like Lil Miquela have been active since 2016 but what has changed radically over the last two years is how accessible the tools have become. You used to need a team of 3D designers and a serious budget. Today, with tools like Midjourney, Stable Diffusion or Flux, anyone with basic prompting skills can create a photorealistic avatar from their laptop. And if you'd rather skip the technical side, platforms like Kunfupay include a free AI influencer generator that lets you get started at no cost.

✅ The key advantage: An AI influencer doesn't get tired, doesn't cancel photo shoots, has no ego and doesn't charge €1,000 per post before delivering any results. You control the message, the timing and the aesthetic 100%. It's a digital asset that works for you around the clock.

This doesn't mean it's easy money. Success depends on the same recipe as any digital project: a clear niche, quality content, consistency and a monetization strategy. AI simplifies production, but it doesn't replace business vision.

If what you want is to monetize content without appearing on camera but without building a virtual character, you can also explore the faceless content model: YouTube channels, TikTok accounts, newsletters and blogs that generate income without showing a face.

2. The market in numbers: data that confirms the trend

The virtual influencer business is not a fringe experiment. The numbers point to a fast-growing market that attracts independent creators and major brands alike.

According to industry data, the global virtual influencer market grew from $6.06 billion in 2024 to more than $8.3 billion in 2025. Consultancy Ogilvy estimates that by 2026, 30% of influencer marketing budgets will go to virtual characters. And Straits Research projects the figure could reach $111.78 billion by 2033.

What's driving this growth? Several converging factors: brands want more control over their image, AI production costs are a fraction of traditional ones, and younger audiences are increasingly used to interacting with digital characters from VTubers to video game avatars.

3. Who is actually making money with AI influencers?

The best way to understand the real potential is to look at the people already doing it.

Lil Miquela — The pioneer billing millions

Created in 2016, Lil Miquela has more than 2.4 million followers on Instagram and has collaborated with brands such as Prada, Calvin Klein and Samsung. Her team charges tens of thousands of dollars per sponsored post. Her subscription income on Fanvue alone reaches $40,000 a month, and across all revenue sources her monthly billing tops $100,000. She is estimated to generate around $2 million a year.

Aitana López: The Spanish case that proved anyone can do it

Aitana is probably the most inspiring case for entrepreneurs. She was created by The Clueless, a small Barcelona agency founded by Rubén Cruz. With her pink hair and fitness profile, Aitana has close to 400,000 followers on Instagram and has worked with brands such as Amazon, Razer and Freepik. Her income ranges between €3,000 and €10,000 a month, combining brand deals and her Fanvue subscription profile.

💡 Key insight: Rubén Cruz created Aitana as the answer to a real business problem: human influencers cancelled shoots, had difficult egos and charged prices that didn't add up. Aitana was the response — a fully controllable, scalable "asset."

Emily Pellegrini and other virtual creators

Beyond the big names, there's a growing ecosystem of independent creators earning between $500 and $5,000 a month with AI influencer profiles in niches such as fashion, fitness, technology and lifestyle. The barrier to entry has dropped so far that the real differentiator is no longer technology, but creativity and content strategy.

4. How do you create an AI influencer step by step?

Creating a profitable AI influencer isn't just about generating a pretty face. It takes strategic planning, visual consistency and a content plan.

Step 1: Define your niche and personality

Before you touch any tool, answer these questions: Who is your influencer for? What niche will it occupy (fashion, fitness, tech, travel, gaming)? What is its personality, its tastes, its backstory? The virtual influencers that work best are the ones with a rich, coherent identity not just an attractive face. Think about values, flaws, humour and communication style.

Step 2: Generate the avatar with AI

This is where the most technical, and most creative part comes in. The professional tools that deliver the best results are Midjourney (exceptional image quality, ideal for creating hyper-realistic looks through descriptive prompts), Stable Diffusion with checkpoints like Juggernaut XL or RealVisXL (open-source, free and runnable locally, with the option to train a custom LoRA of your character to guarantee facial consistency), and Flux (the next-generation model gaining ground for its native photorealism). The key here is consistency: your character must keep the same features across every image, and for that you need to train a dedicated model or use techniques like IP-Adapter and face swap.

If you'd rather not get into the technical side, Kunfupay offers a free AI influencer generator built into its platform you create your avatar directly and start generating content with nothing to install and no advanced prompting to learn.

Step 3: Create varied multimedia content

Don't limit yourself to static photos. Generate animated videos with your avatar using lipsync (lip synchronization) and TTS (text-to-speech) tools. Platforms like HeyGen or D-ID let your avatar "speak" with natural expressions and movements. For the voice, ElevenLabs offers hyper-realistic speech synthesis in multiple languages. Combine different formats: images for the Instagram feed, short videos for Reels/TikTok/Shorts, and longer videos for YouTube.

Step 4: Build the profiles and start posting

Pick one main platform to start with (we recommend Instagram or TikTok for their organic potential). Create a professional profile with a bio, a coherent aesthetic and your first posts. Publish at least 3–5 times a week. Use scheduling tools like Metricool or Buffer to automate your posting.

Step 5: Engage and build a community

A common mistake is believing that posting photos is enough. Followers follow lives, not images. Reply to comments in your character's voice and tone. Tell stories in your captions. Create weekly narratives (trips, challenges, collaborations). Genuine interaction is what turns followers into a loyal, monetizable audience.

⏱️ A realistic timeline: Month 1–2: Build the avatar, first posts, format testing. Month 3–4: Organic growth, first 1,000–5,000 followers. Month 5–6: First monetization opportunities. Month 6–12: Recurring income and scaling. Don't expect instant results, this is a business, not a viral trick.

5. What are the best tools to create an AI influencer?

The tooling ecosystem has matured enormously. Here are the most relevant options organized by function.

Image and avatar generation

Video, voice and animation

Editing and publishing

6. How do AI influencers make money? 7 proven methods

Creating the influencer is only the first step. The real question is: how do you turn followers into income?

Method comparison table

7. Kunfupay: the platform to monetize your AI influencer worldwide

Having a virtual influencer with thousands of followers is only half the equation. The other half the half that really matters is getting paid without friction, from any country, with the payment methods your audience actually uses. And this is where most creators hit a wall: gateways that reject payments, fees that eat into your earnings, money stuck between platforms and weeks of waiting to receive what you've made.

Kunfupay is built to solve exactly this problem. It's a 360° ecosystem designed for content creators, influencers and digital entrepreneurs who sell to international audiences across Latin America, Europe and beyond. More than 2,000 active creators already use it to get paid in over 20 countries, processing more than €10 million a year in transactions.

On top of that, Kunfupay has launched a free AI influencer generator built into its platform. That means you can create your virtual avatar, generate content and monetize it all from a single ecosystem without jumping between tools or paying extra subscriptions.

For a creator running an AI influencer, Kunfupay fits like a glove in three key areas:

🎓 Creating and selling courses

Your AI influencer can become a digital educator. Picture a virtual fitness influencer selling training plans, a tech avatar offering a productivity course, or a fashion influencer with a personal-style masterclass. You generate the content with AI, you collect the income with Kunfupay.

With Kunfupay you can create a payment link for your course in minutes, with no website of your own and no complex integrations. You paste it in your Instagram bio, in a YouTube video description, in a Reel or in a direct message and your audience can buy instantly. The checkout adapts automatically to the buyer's country, showing the local payment methods they trust: card and bank transfer in Europe, plus local methods such as SPEI in Mexico, Nequi in Colombia, PIX in Brazil or Mercado Pago in Argentina. Everything lands in the same wallet, in euros or dollars.

💡 Why it matters for AI influencers: Virtual influencers tend to have global, diverse audiences you can't rely on a single payment gateway. Creators who turn on local payment methods with Kunfupay report an average 35% increase in sales conversion. In other words: fewer people abandon the purchase because they can't find a way to pay.

🎉 Social media giveaways

Giveaways are one of the most effective strategies for growing an influencer's audience, and a direct source of income too. Your virtual influencer can run sponsored giveaways (where brands pay for visibility) or paid giveaways (where participants buy an entry to take part).

Kunfupay simplifies the whole operation: you create a payment link for entry, share it from your influencer's profile, and every payment is automatically logged in the built-in CRM. You know exactly who took part, how much you raised, and you can segment those participants for future campaigns. Kunfupay's automation system handles confirmation emails, reminders and follow-ups, without you doing it manually.

On top of that, the built-in referral program lets participants themselves share the link and earn rewards for every new participant they bring, creating a viral effect that multiplies reach with no extra ad spend.

💰 Selling exclusive content and subscriptions

Beyond one-off courses, recurring content sales are the most sustainable long-term model. Your AI influencer can offer access to premium content: exclusive photo packs, behind-the-scenes videos, downloadable guides, editing presets, content templates or access to a private community.

With Kunfupay you can manage recurring subscriptions with automatic monthly billing the so-called "holy grail" of digital monetization. Your subscribers pay every month with no manual intervention, and you receive the income directly in your Kunfupay Wallet. From there you can withdraw to banks in over 180 countries or spend directly with the KunfuCard, a digital VISA card linked to your wallet. Automatic month-to-month renewal works with the payment methods that support it, such as card.

Key Kunfupay features for creators

⚡ Get started for free: Kunfupay lets you set up your first payment link in under 5 minutes. The setup is simple: create your link → share it on social → get paid instantly. Start free at kunfupay.com

8. A content strategy that works

Technology is just the vehicle. What really determines a virtual influencer's success is its content strategy.

Tell a story, don't post loose photos

The creators of Aitana López discovered something fundamental: people follow lives, not images. Every week, her team plans what Aitana will do, where she'll travel and what she'll share. Apply this approach: build weekly narratives, share "moments" from your influencer's day-to-day, create anticipation.

Mix formats strategically

Not everything has to be video, and not everything has to be a photo. The ideal mix for social media in 2026 includes high-quality photos for the feed, short Reels and TikToks for reach and virality, carousels for educational content, and Stories for daily interaction and closeness.

Ride trends without losing your identity

Your influencer can take part in TikTok trends, challenges and viral topics, but always from its own personality. Consistency between the character's identity and its content is what builds trust over the long term.

Post frequently and consistently

The recommended minimum frequency is 3 feed posts a week plus daily Stories content. AI tools mean the bottleneck is no longer production, but planning. Spend time building a monthly editorial calendar and execute it with discipline.

9. Risks, ethics and what nobody tells you

It would be irresponsible to talk about making money with AI influencers without addressing the risks and controversies.

It's not easy money (watch out for the gurus)

There's a toxic ecosystem of accounts on X (Twitter) and TikTok promising you'll earn "$1,000 a week" creating AI influencers with no effort. The reality is different. Journalistic investigations have analyzed dozens of these accounts and confirm that most of the methods they push don't work the way they're presented.

⚠️ A reality check: If someone tells you that you can earn thousands of euros in weeks "with no experience," be sceptical. Success stories like Aitana López have months of work, a creative team and an investment in tools behind them. It's a legitimate business, but like any business, it takes dedication.

Ethical and legal questions

Technical risks

Visual consistency is still the biggest technical challenge. If your influencer has slightly different features in every image, followers will notice. Spend time training your AI model properly and review every image before posting.

10. Frequently asked questions

How much money can an AI influencer make?

It depends on audience, niche and monetization mix. Well-known cases earn from €3,000 to over $100,000 a month, while a beginner can realistically aim for €100–500/month after 3–6 months of consistent work. Income compounds as the audience grows.

Do I need to know how to code?

No. Tools like Midjourney or Stable Diffusion reward technical skill, but you can start with no coding at all — Kunfupay even includes a free AI influencer generator. Creativity and strategy matter far more than technical skills.

How much does it cost to start?

You can start for free using trial tiers of image and voice tools. To produce at scale, most creators spend between €15 and €80 per month across their tool stack.

Is it legal to create a virtual influencer?

Yes. Creating an original virtual character is fully legal. What is not legal is using a real person's likeness without consent or generating deepfakes of real people.

How do I get paid by followers in different countries?

This is the biggest hurdle for global audiences. Platforms like Kunfupay solve it with a multi-method checkout that accepts local payment methods across 20+ countries, settling everything into one wallet in euros or dollars.

Which niche is most profitable?

Fashion and lifestyle, fitness and wellness, tech and gaming, and travel show the strongest potential in 2026. Pick one you can sustain — consistency beats theoretical profitability.

11. Conclusion and next steps

Virtual influencers created with artificial intelligence represent one of the most accessible and scalable opportunities in digital marketing in 2026. The market is growing fast, the tools are more accessible than ever, and the success stories prove that real income is possible.

But don't be fooled by promises of easy money. Success takes three things: a clear strategy, quality content and relentless consistency. AI removes the production barrier, but the business vision is still 100% yours.

The best time to start was six months ago. The second best time is today. Pick your niche, create your first avatar and publish your first content this week. And when you're ready to monetize whether by selling courses, running giveaways or launching exclusive content tools like Kunfupay let you get paid worldwide from day one, with no friction and no headaches.

Don't wait until everything's perfect; the market rewards those who act.

Article updated on 29 March 2026. Information on tools and pricing may change always check official sources.

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