Kyra joined Instagram in January 2022.

As of November 2023 she boasts of 238K Instagram followers and multiple brand endorsements!

The  22-year-old Mumbaikar’s Instagram bio says she is a "dream chaser, model and traveller" as her reels capture her doing yoga by the poolside in the metaverse, posing for a fashion photoshoot on a sandy beach, traveling to Kairo to see the awe-inspiring pyramid  and when she is not active socially enjoying a quiet meals at home.

You must be thinking there are so many Instagram influencers monetizing their content by documenting their lives. So what?

Kyra is not human.

Kyra is a CGI-based character who looks like a human. Her persona is created, maintained, and monetized (by a team of content creators who collaborate with brands) by Bengaluru-based FUTR studios – “India's First Virtual Human Company”.

Welcome to the world of ‘digital influencers’.

As Kyra’s list of followers among the millennials and Gen. Z swell, so does her brand endorsement deals. She has graced the cover of Travel and Leisure magazine, walked the ramp in a metaverse fashion week and endorsed a multitude of brands: Titan  and John Jacobs eyewear, boAt audio, Amazon Prime show Peripherals, Sunfeast, American Tourister – to name just a few.

And for doing this, Kyra charges a bomb that may make human influences green with envy. According to an industry report, Kyra can make Rs5-10 lakh/campaign (while her human counterparts deserve a measly Rs40k-1 lakh)!

But, Kyra, who is free from fatigue, aging or controversy (till now) can’t talk to its fans which is a limitation.

Himanshu Goel , co-founder of FUTR studios (an alumni of MICA, Ahmedabad) assures us: “We are working on LLMs (large language models) like ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Llama model for Kyra to do live interaction with her fans.”

The future of virtual influencers is limited only by our imagination...

Image: https://www.instagram.com/kyraonig