AI and Influencers: The use of artificial intelligence to perpetuate gender stereotypes and the hypersexualization of women

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2025-1017

Keywords:

influencer, Artifical Intelligence, influencer marketing, engagement, stereotypes, instagram, algorithmic mediation, gender

Abstract

Abstract: Artificial intelligence has impacted influencer marketing, using generative AI to create hyper-realistic figures that simulate real influencers and perpetuate gender stereotypes Objective: To corroborate that AI uses Instagram data to perpetuate gender roles Methodology: We have carried out mixed methodologies research, mixing case studies with content analysis, analyzing profiles of different influencers. Results: Through the analysis, we have been able to glimpse that the engagement generated by women's profiles responds to the different stereotypes of gender and that generative AI has replicated that system according to its objective. Conclusions: Our research is corroborated since we have been able to see through our analysis that the generation of content by AI is based on the tendency of users and brands to create content around the social construction of the ideal of a woman.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Rocio Torrronteras Manzano, European University of Madrid

Responsible for University Life at the Vice-Rectorate for Students and University Life at the European University of Madrid, she has a degree in Protocol and Events Organisation, as well as in the Application of Technologies for Innovation in Communication. She is currently working on her PhD at the Universidad Europea with the intention of investigating the effect that social networks as new media have had on the psychosocial development of women.

Lucia Andaluz Antón, European University of Madrid

Lucía Andaluz Antón, director of the Department of Online Programmes in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Communication at the European University of Madrid, holds a PhD in Biomedicine and Health Sciences from the same university. Her research focuses on the dissemination of hoaxes in social networks, new media and journalistic verification. She has participated in projects on the integration of the migrant population in Madrid and is a member of research groups on digital rhetoric and legal analysis of cultural manifestations. His publications focus on topics such as visual manipulation, the representation of migration on Twitter and fact-checking tools for the verification of information.

Ignacio Sacaluga Rodríguez, European University of Madrid

Lecturer in Audiovisual Communication and Advertising at the Universidad Europea. PhD accredited in Communication in all its forms. MBA in Business Management and MU in Digital Journalism. Six-year research period from ANECA. He has been Vice-Dean of Postgraduate Studies, Director of the Communication Area for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Studies, and Director of Postgraduate Development at the UEM. Two decades of teaching experience in Undergraduate and Postgraduate, professionally he has scripted, directed or presented TV programmes for Telemadrid, Antena 3TV and laOtra. In film, he has written and directed three feature documentaries for which he has received national and international recognition. He is a member of the Academia Cine de España and his research interests are in the fields of Communication, Educommunication and Neurocommunication.

References

Adevintia. (20 de marzo de 2023). Inteligencia artificial generativa: qué es, cómo funciona y cuáles son sus riesgos. https://bit.ly/3XVAosS

Ayuso, M. (9 de abril de 2016). Lo que hombres y mujeres encuentran atractivo. El Confidencial. https://lc.cx/NOKBRE

Be a Lion. (2024). VIA: Revolucionamos la comunicación a través de metahumanos generados por inteligencia artificial. https://viatalents.com/

Colpisa (18 de noviembre de 2024). Los comentarios negativos en redes afectan más a las mujeres que a los hombres. Diario de Navarra. https://bit.ly/4eVZjCm

Del Bosque, M. (3 de noviembre de 2023). Redes sociales, el territorio donde las mujeres ganan la partida: "Los hombres sentimos más rechazo ante la idea de exponernos". El Mundo. https://lc.cx/8hGrEJ

Dilse escuela creativa. (2022). ¿Qué es el feed de Instagram? https://dilsecreativo.com/blog/marketing-digital/que-es-el-feed-de-instagram

Elcano, Real Instituto. (24 de julio de 2018). Inteligencia artificial y poder. https://bit.ly/4cyuWQU

Esteban, F. (31 de Enero de 2024). Estas son las influencers creadas por la IA que están arrasando en las redes sociales. Business Insider. https://bit.ly/4eWGoHY

Estevez, A. (2022). Comentarios negativos en las redes sociales. Fundación Mapfre en colaboración con la Universidad de Deusto.

Fernández, R. (2024). Distribución porcentual de los usuarios de Instagram en el mundo en 2024, por edad. Statista. https://acortar.link/UeFy9

Fernández, R. (4 de abril de 2024). Instagram-Datos estadísticos. Statista. https://acortar.link/ODieB1

Fernández-Rovira, C. (2022). Motivaciones y tiempo de uso de las redes sociales por parte de los jóvenes españoles: Señales de adicción. Anuario Electrónico de Estudios en Comunicación Social. Diserciones, 15(2), 7-10. https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/disertaciones/a.11155 DOI: https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/disertaciones/a.11155

Fontecilla, H. B. (2022). El impacto de las redes sociales en las personas y en la sociedad: redes sociales, redil social, ¿o telaraña? Revista de Investigación e Innovación Educativa.Tarbiya, 54, 99. https://doi.org/10.15366/tarbiya2021.49.007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15366/tarbiya2021.49.007

Gartner. (11 de octubre de 2023). Gartner says more than 80% of enterprises will have used generative ai apis or deployed generative ai-enabled applications by 2026. https://bit.ly/3xlst1o

IBM. (2022). ¿Qué es el machine learning (ML)? https://acortar.link/fsXOX0

INESDI. (22 de diciembre de 2021). Algoritmos digitales: qué son, tipos y ejemplos. https://acortar.link/bcobYA

Influencity. (2023). El mayor estudio de influencers de Europa (2023). https://bit.ly/3LhtmH6

Instituto de la Ingenieria del Conocimiento. (2022). Inteligencia Artificial, automatizar y optimizar procesos de negocio en cualquier sector. https://bit.ly/4bWhPYW

Kolsquare. (6 de junio de 2024). Estadísticas de Instagram para 2024. https://bit.ly/4bucGHe

Metricool. (2 de mayo de 2024). El algoritmo de Instagram en 2024. https://metricool.com/es/algoritmo-instagram/

Moros, C. (19 de junio de 2024). El futuro de Instagram. ¿Es humano o artificial? Escuela de escritores. https://bit.ly/3xO1A1R

Navarrete, J. M. (2024). Neurociencia y ciencias sociales. Emociones, redes sociales, comunicación y poder. Espacio Abierto. Universidad de Zulia, 33(2), 16-15. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11208236

Parlamento Europeo. (26 de marzo de 2021). ¿Qué es la inteligencia artificial y cómo se usa? https://bit.ly/4cTug8O

Ponjoan, N. (13 de niciembre de 2023). La nueva industria de ‘influencers’ virtuales: celebridades que trabajan sin descanso y no piden un aumento. El País. https://lc.cx/rrADqy

Serrate-González, S. (2023). Identidad onlife: La cuestión del género y la edad en el comportamiento adolescente ante las redes. Comunicar, 16. https://doi.org/10.3916/C75-2023-01

Serrate-González, S. (2023). Identidad onlife: La cuestión del género y la edad en el comportamiento adolescente ante las redes. Comunicar, (75)10. https://doi.org/10.3916/C75-2023-01 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3916/C75-2023-01

The Clueless. (2024). Aitana López. https://lc.cx/bPZCI_

Valerio Ureña, G. y Serna Valdivi, R. (2018). Redes sociales y bienestar psicológico del estudiante universitario. Revista electrónica de investigación educativa, 20(3), 19-28. https://doi.org/10.24320/redie.2018.20.3.1796 DOI: https://doi.org/10.24320/redie.2018.20.3.1796

Vásquez, F. G., Poveda, D. M. y W. L. (2023). El big data y su implicacion en el marketing. SEECI.

Visus, A. (8 de mayo de 2020). La inteligencia artificial está cambiando el futuro del marketing. Universitat de Barcelona. https://bit.ly/3RXKxRW

Wondwesen, T. D. y P. Madera, B. (21 de Enero de 2022). Followers’ engagement with instagram influencers: The role of influencers’ content and engagement strategy. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 58, 2. https://bit.ly/3xK83uR DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102303

Zúñiga Vázques, F., Mora Poveda, D. y Llerena, W. (2023). El big data y su implicación en el marketing. Revista de Comunicación de la SEECI, 56. https://doi.org/10.15198/seeci.2023.56.e832 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15198/seeci.2023.56.e832

Downloads

Published

2025-01-09

How to Cite

Torrronteras Manzano, R., Andaluz Antón, L., & Sacaluga Rodríguez, I. (2025). AI and Influencers: The use of artificial intelligence to perpetuate gender stereotypes and the hypersexualization of women. European Public & Social Innovation Review, 10, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2025-1017

Issue

Vol. 10 (2025)

Section

Research and Artificial Intelligence

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Rocio Torrronteras Manzano, Lucía Andaluz Antón, Ignacio Sacaluga Rodríguez

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under Creative Commons Non Commercial, No Derivatives Attribution 4.0. International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.), that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).