Emma, the AI Travel Influencer | POSTCARD #3

Are you still there?

To delete messages that sent to stated in the archives, press 9.

To hear more options, press 0.

What are you talking about?

Welcome back to another curious tourism postcard.

This is a monthly episode where Katie and I stray away from our usual format to have a fun and more candid chat about the latest travel news, trends, and updates from in and around the travel community.

So today, I have a little something to send you, Katie.

Oh, I'm nervous.

Oh, don't be.

Don't be.

This is gonna be fun.

Okay, so you just want me to watch this?

I'm already catching the vibes, so.

Yeah, yeah, watch it.

And afterwards, tell me what you've seen.

Okay, so I am watching a Instagram reel from Germany Tourism.

That is a video hosted by an AI Travel influencer named Emma.

She is just a young white lady with bright white teeth.

There is, like, AI generated video clips of, like, being on a train walking through old German streets.

And the caption of it says, hello, everyone.

I'm Emma, your AI Travel influencer from Germany Tourism.

And from today, I'll be taking you on an exciting journey through the most beautiful corners of destination Germany on my own channel.

From fascinating cities and historical places to breathtaking natural wonders, let's go on an adventure together.

Follow me for inspiration and travel tips.

Erin, how do you feel now that you're in a market with AI Travel influencers?

Not great.

But I was going to ask you, how do you feel about this video?

Like, would I follow Emma?

Okay.

No, I have a feeling that would.

Be, like, it's literally, I'm still, like, very much on the AI, not even on the fence.

I'm on one side of the fence where I've not crossed over.

I've been very, very skeptical about doing anything in the AI Space.

And, like, following a travel influencer from Tourism Germany can't be much different than just opening, like, a brochure from Tourism Germany.

Like, to me, anything this influencer is gonna tell me is gonna be something that's programmed by, like, the tourism board.

So I'm not gonna get any, like, authentic real reviews on anything.

Not to mention, like, even the footage of the places that this AI Emma is traveling to is not real.

Yeah, AI Germany.

Like, what?

I share this sentiment.

And to be honest, like, I wouldn't say I'm completely anti AI, but it's, like, begrudgingly that I'm not, because I think I've just.

I used to be.

But I've realized that I have to accept that this is the world now.

Like we're not going back.

It's taken time for me to accept this.

But similarly, like very not happy about the environmental impact.

And I really worry that AI is eroding people's critical thinking skills.

Actually, I've read literature that says that it indeed is.

I'm pretty concerned for Gen Alpha.

I was just listening to a podcast about this yesterday, Aaron that was talking about this and they went on to say that a big part of human's journey in life is the process of getting from destination A to destination B.

Whether that's a project you're working on or actually traveling.

Usually the most memorable and learnings come from the process of getting there.

The journey of getting there.

And AI has completely eliminated that.

It's just getting people from destination A to destination B and there's no thinking process involved.

And that's a huge reason why some of those critical thinking skills are going to absolutely dissipate very soon.

Makes sense.

This is the thing though.

I do recognize that there are a lot of benefits to it depending on the application.

I've been reading that AI could be really game changing for healthcare.

It could help us find a cure for cancer potentially because it can do really complex calculations so quickly.

In chatting with friends, I have friends who have really benefited from it.

For accessibility.

It offers some accessibility solutions that can be pretty life changing.

Totally.

That's my general feelings.

Travel influencer.

Let's stop taking people's fun jobs.

This is the thing.

That's an application where I'm not sure we need to see it.

Yes, exactly.

Oh, one thing.

Did you listen to the audio?

Did you listen to her narration?

I didn't listen to it.

Hold on one second.

You should listen.

Germany.

I'm excited to take you on an.

Amazing journey through this Fascinating.

Oh, she's British.

Yep.

I just needed you to know that she's British.

It's relevant information.

The other funny thing here is that like I don't, I don't know if I've ever noticed this from other tourism boards, but in the caption too, the caption is obviously must be written by AI and it even says like, let me take you around destination Germany.

Like who calls it destination Germany?

Wouldn't you just say Germany?

I did think that was odd, but I feel like I have seen some tourism boards to do that.

But I agree, like the caption, all of the cat.

So hold on, we're going to get into it because I did like a deep dive.

Like I reviewed every single post that this account has ever posted.

I'm so ready for this.

I'm so ready.

So first I wanted to talk about the reactions to this video.

I knew that you and I were going to talk about this, but I.

Was like, I think I have seen this before.

I think I sent it to you.

But I was like, we need to let this run its course.

We need to see some more posts.

We need to see what happens with the PR around this.

So I was like, I'm gonna wait a few months.

As you can guess, probably guess.

The reactions to this video were extremely mixed.

Some people are praising it.

Like you'll notice comments where people are excited about it and saying hello to Emma like she's a real person.

Oh no.

Which freaks me out a little bit.

But others are, of course critical.

So I pulled some comments that I think are worth highlighting because I think they call out like some of the problems with Emma.

So one comment was the beauty of social media is hearing authentic voices and experiences in the midst of a world that is becoming overrun with generic AI.

Yes, I liked this comment.

It's kind of paradoxical.

We have so many talented, authentic influencers who could present Germany as a travel destination in an incredibly creative and personal way, but instead we're turning to AI as if that's the ultimate solution.

Sure, the allure of AI is strong, and I understand the urge to experiment with the latest technologies, but sometimes it feels like the focus is too much on the wow factor of tech rather than the real human connection that influencers can create.

People want to see stories and genuine experiences, not some polished AI production.

And then the third comment I pulled was just why doesn't Emma have a German accent?

There was also a lot of German comments, and I did translate a couple of them because I was just curious what Germans had to say about it.

So one of the German comments this could be a bad translation.

I tried to run it through a couple translators to make sure it was as accurate as possible, but just need to give that caveat.

It's remarkable how far the absurdity has already gone.

A country using AI with an avatar to market itself as a travel destination instead of relying on authentic experiences and human interaction.

It's all a digital illusion.

So not long after that launch post, Emma posted again to address the criticism.

No, I'm not going to read the entire post.

I'll just read the most relevant parts of it.

Wait, is she sitting there talking to the camera, being like, I'm so sorry Ella, like YouTuber style.

It's just like a static image of her with this caption.

Okay.

That would be hilarious though.

I know, honestly.

So she said.

Dear community, thank you so much for all the feedback on my first post.

Thanks to your individual input, I am enabled to learn constantly and hopefully be able to better meet your ideas.

It's kind of strange.

Copy.

As your AI travel companion, I'm here 24, 7 to share tips and inspiration for exploring travel destination Germany.

I'm excited to represent a new step in digital innovation and here is why.

I'm certainly not the first AI character you've seen, but what makes me unique is that I'm not just animated, but 100% AI generated.

My goal is to showcase the beauty of Germany in a creative way and provide helpful information without replacing real or human experiences, nor the amazing work of influencers and content creators.

I hope my page becomes a place where we can connect and inspire each other as a community.

Let's discover Germany together.

It reads very like PR to me.

It reads a whole lot of nothing to me.

It's like, okay, yeah, sure, but you're still a robot.

And this also, I'm sure you're going to get into this, but this just brought up more to me.

Like I, I compared it to like a tourism board pamphlet kind of thing.

What she would get from you.

But no, she's gen. She's generating all of her stuff.

She must be ripping like a lot of her recommendations and even stories and feelings about things from other travel influencers who've been to Germany.

Right?

It's hard to say.

Right.

Because.

And this is something I'm going to get into in a little bit, like what's actually in the post.

But a lot of the posts are just, it's very generic information.

This is like part of my criticism of it because they are the tourism board, they have arguably the best access to information when it comes to tourism in the country.

They should.

So you would think that they would use Emma as a way to like disperse information about lesser known things about local businesses, that they would use her to turn attention towards the things that the places that get less attention.

That's not what they're doing.

She's out there talking about Berlin, talking about Hamburg.

All places that people know about.

We don't really need another influencer.

Highlighting the surfing in the park in Munich.

I've seen that all over Instagram.

That is one of her posts.

Yeah.

Most of them are just roundups of highlights to do in a city or tips of what to do in a region of Germany.

There are some posts that I was like, okay, I've not heard of this area.

So I think in some posts she highlights lesser known regions.

But then it's not in detail.

It's always just very high level, bulleted information.

And like you mentioned, there's a lot of markers that these posts are AI generated as well.

I think we all know, like, the format that the AI posts tend to come out in.

The other thing about the posts, and like, this is why I wanted to give it time because I was interested to see what the story behind Emma would be like.

In my mind, if you're creating an AI influencer or character, she or they should have like a pretty detailed backstory.

There's no overarching story to Emma's account.

There's also no real continuity.

It's not like she's on like a train journey from the north to the south.

She just kind of pops up like in different places.

And the only thing we know about her, she's a paper clip of Germany, literally.

And the only thing we know about her is that she was born in a suburb of Berlin and that growing up she really enjoyed spending time in nature.

Those were the two backstory tidbits that I could find about her.

Riveting.

Riveting.

I know, right?

I would almost want like an AI travel influencer to embrace the fact that they're AI and were never born and they are a robot and they are like a weird non sentient being.

Like, if Emma was like, hey, here's this really tiny little local cafe or restaurant that I found via Google Maps that I noticed doesn't have enough reviews, but all of them are five stars.

Like, you got to go try this place for me and tell me how it is kind of thing.

Like that to me would be way more intriguing because then you're interacting with the robot being like, oh my God, I totally went.

It was a great find.

Like, keep doing, digging for more like 5 star reviews with not enough reviews type things.

Like that's the type of stuff I want AI to be doing because, like, it'll take Emma, I don't know, no time at all to do like a deep search of all the Google reviews that exist out there right in Germany.

I don't know.

Very good idea.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, like this is the thing as a marketer, like my marketing brain is like, there's so much missed opportunities.

There's so many missed opportunities.

Not that I support an AI influencer, but if you're going to do it, like, do it in an interesting way.

And, like, they just didn't.

The other thing about her backstory being that she was born in Berlin, the British accent.

How did no one catch that?

It's one of those things that reminds me of historical movies that take place in ancient Egypt where everybody has a British accent.

It bothers me so much, I will say, because I looked at every single post I noticed.

I think they got the message about that feedback.

Like, in later videos, it's actually hilarious.

Sometimes her accent oscillates from, like, German accent to British back to German.

In one of them, she sounds almost American.

So I think this is probably just like a little glitch with whatever AI they're using.

But, yeah, basically there's nothing special about this account when it comes to covering travel in Germany or storytelling.

What's her follower count?

I think it was like, 17K.

Okay.

I mean, that's a pretty significant amount.

Pretty significant.

But I think most people are probably following just out of curiosity, like, about the account.

But I do see comments, like, even on recent posts of people, like, commenting to Emma, like, she's a real person.

These have gotta be bots, though, because I'm just looking at it right now.

Quick.

Oh, my God, this is so brutal to watch.

Like, I'm seeing a video of her kayaking in a canoe down a river.

That must be, like, just a special thing that they've got.

That's just my own Canadian perspective.

There's also a photo of her biking in, like, a forest.

And she kind of looks like.

I don't know if you've been watching that show.

You definitely haven't been Best in miniature on Netflix.

She looks like a little miniature person.

Like, she looks like a Polly Pocket.

It's so funny.

Yeah, I just, I don't see, like, from a marketing perspective, I just have to say this.

I don't understand what the goal is or what, like, the ROI is on creating her because, like, we know that audiences connect better with human stories.

Like, this is literally the value of creators, of content creators.

They can bring, like, unique perspective and storytelling, and Emma is not doing that.

So I'm just curious, like, on their end, what the goal is.

But another thing, this is a little rabbit hole I went down with.

Down with reviewing Emma.

So another thing I find interesting about her is the choices that were made in creating her.

So, like you mentioned she is a blonde, white, thin woman.

I mentioned we don't have very much backstory about her, like, who she is, her Character.

Which means that if we want to read her like a character like you would a character in a movie, she's very flat.

She's a woman with like, no story.

Yeah.

And I just wonder why they wouldn't have created a more diverse character who had a fully fleshed out story with some identifiable characteristics.

Yeah.

And this really bothers me because this is something I've noticed with AI influencers and I've actually read.

There's a lot of think pieces about this, about how AI influencers tend to always be women.

They're usually white and they're always extremely conventionally beautiful.

And so I went down a little rabbit hole with this thought and read a few essays and think pieces about it.

And I just wanted to share some quotes from a Medium article that I read by a user called Review Raccoon.

They wrote, let's be honest about what AI influencers really are.

They're the ultimate male gaze fantasy made manifest.

Almost every successful AI influencer is a conventionally attractive young woman with impossible proportions, flawless features, and a personality carefully calibrated to be appealing without being threatening.

They're all variations of the same thing.

Perfection without humanity.

And here's what makes me uncomfortable.

They're not just selling products, they're selling an impossible standard of womanhood that real women with professional makeup artists, personal trainers and photo editing teams can barely achieve.

Because these AI influencers don't have bad skin days, weight fluctuations, or messy emotional breakdowns.

They exist in a perpetual state of aspirational perfection.

I hate this.

I know.

Yeah, it's just like frustrating that like misogyny, it like applies to, to not even real humans as well.

Like, so frustrating.

But also you also notice that like AI voices tend to be feminized.

Whenever I hear AI voices, like, it seems like the default is women.

I'm noticing like that changing a little bit.

Like I've noticed with some like AI chatbots, you have option to change the voice.

I feel like this was stemmed from like Siri too.

Right?

Like Siri and Alexa.

Yeah.

Think about all of like, think about the TTC announcement voice.

The same in Montreal, the same in the uk.

Like every place I've been, I can't think of any place I've been where the voice on public transit is not a feminized voice.

Okay, so this author brings up another interesting point too, which I think is relevant to the discussion about Emma, and that is that the influencer economy is dominated by women.

It's like a very women led economy.

This is why this is something I think about a lot.

Women influencers and creators get so much criticism.

It's like this economy is looked down upon because it's like women led and people don't value women's work.

Notice how, like, influencers who are men tend to get less criticism.

Like, I've even talked to creators that I know who are men and they just like, don't get the same level of criticism.

So the thing about it is, like, this economy does provide opportunities for people who might not have access to media careers.

It kind of democratizes influence and creates new paths for women to like, build a career and to make money and be financially independent, particularly for women from marginalized communities who are often excluded from mainstream media representation.

And so on that note, like, I think that point applies here because Emma did not need to be a white woman.

She could have been.

There's so much diversity in Germany.

Like, I don't know why that was the default.

I think it probably was.

Like, this is the thing.

I'm not suggesting that it was the DMO's intention with Emma to perpetuate these problems, but it's interesting how the way that she was created is a reflection of the already existing problems, not just in travel media, but like across all media.

Totally.

And I just wish that someone on that team had thought about this.

I know there's.

If I was on that team, I would have been like, what are we doing?

Like, she doesn't even have a German accent, honestly.

Yeah, like, no, period.

Like, what are we doing?

Why does this exist at all?

What are we doing exactly?

Guys, hold on, hold on, hold on.

Take a break here.

Yeah, so anyways, I'm gonna keep following Emma.

I don't actually follow her.

I just check in on her sometimes.

Following in a checking in type of way.

Yeah, I'm just curious about how her, how she will evolve.

Will she see all of Germany?

Will she get bored of Germany?

That's the thing.

Like, they could have this whole time been building like a personality for her.

I think Emma's gonna fall in love.

She's gonna have a wedding in Germany and find all the most beautiful venues for this.

Then she's gonna have a baby and she's gonna find all the most kid friendly travel destinations in Germany.

I don't know, she's gonna age, the kid's gonna become a teenager.

Things to bring your teenager to.

Or she just like evolves into a mommy blogger, which is like a thing that happens.

I've seen it happen where someone's a travel creator, but then they Have a kid and they're just suddenly a parenting influencer.

Not wrong.

Nothing wrong with that.

Just an interesting evolution that happens sometimes.

Okay, so I think from AI generated digital content to authentic digital content.

I wanted to bring you this funny thing that I saw.

I was browsing through threads recently and saw this.

This one post that said, if y' all aren't following TSA on threads, you are truly missing out on what might possibly be the best content on this platform.

Just saying.

So tsa, obviously referring to the, like, security in an airport.

I didn't even know that TSA was like, an administration that could have a social media account, but, oh, they do.

And they are bringing it back to, like, Wendy's Twitter, basically.

So just.

I have my qualms with tsa.

We've talked about it a lot on the.

On the show about how there's a lot of TSA agents that will have, like, microaggressions towards people of color.

So that is definitely a reality of the TSA world.

But a big part of their job is also keeping people safe and making sure people don't bring sketchy things on airplanes.

And basically that is this entire threads account.

So I wanted to read some of these to these posts to you, Aaron, because they were.

They had me cracking up.

So, first one is, I don't know who needs to hear this, but the X rays actually can see that knife that you tried to hide inside of a loaf of bread.

A loaf of bread in all caps.

So to me, this is not AI generated content.

This is like some clever Gen Z or millennial person definitely behind this.

And I'm like, kind of living for it.

In quotes, what does the A in TSA stand for?

Oh, it stands for absolutely.

Do not bring that on the airport.

To the airport.

And yes, we're talking to you, Ashley.

Take your laptops and electronics out of the bag.

If you got a hash brown in a pocket, take it out.

Take it out.

I'm getting the vibe that these are all rooted in real experiences.

I hope that they are, because that makes sense.

The funniest part is that they seem like they're actually things that have happened.

If you're wondering why someone brought two hams, a lizard, a Game Boy, and seven jars of Alfredo sauce to the airport, that makes two of us.

Please step aside.

We have questions.

Quick clarification to the person in New York who brought, quote, pill bottles filled with tequila shoved down their pants.

That is both the incorrect way to travel with pill bottles and tequila.

Hope this helps.

Do you know this is a good moment for me to share an anecdote that I don't think I've ever shared here, which is that.

But when was this?

Two years ago.

Lucas and I were flying to Cape Breton for Luke's mom's 70th birthday, and I had materials in my carry on to bake a cake because I was like, I'm gonna bake a cake for her.

But we were gonna be in like a cottage quite far from, like, I wouldn't be able to just like step out and get things.

So I was like, I need to bring everything so that I can bake this cake.

And as part of that, I was like, making icing is gonna be too hard.

So I just bought like one of those little containers of pre made icing, and it was in my carry on.

And I didn't really think about the fact that TSA or our version of TSA would flag that.

So I'm at Pearson, and of course I get polled and the agent is like, what is this?

And I was like, was it a.

Ziploc bag full of cake mix?

No, it was in the original container.

Like, it was sealed.

It literally said, like, I seen cake icing.

And I told him.

I was like, oh, it's cake icing.

And then I was just like, it's for my mother in law's 70th birthday.

Did he let you take it?

He did.

Oh, good.

But my takeaway was like, okay.

I don't know if this was just because I was an innocent looking, white, blonde woman.

I'm sure this was part of it.

There's privilege wrapped up in that.

Yes.

So he probably thought, oh, she's not messing around.

Like, there isn't like a knife stashed in this.

But I was also like, okay, so you can just let people go.

Like, don't you have to follow the rules?

I was just surprised that he was able to let that go.

Yeah, I mean, it was good.

For Mary's birthday, she got her cake.

Good.

Yeah.

I've been through TSA and left an apple in my bag.

And it was an apple that I had actually grabbed from like some lounge or something at the very beginning of my trip and left in my tote bag the entire trip.

Never ate it.

And it was just like rotting at the bottom of this tote bag.

Forgot it was there.

Walked through TSA on my way home and got flagged.

And I was like, what?

What the hell would they.

Because normally I. I've been.

I've been pulled aside from my EpiPens because EpiPens look sketchy as hell, but for the apple.

And then I was like, what the heck could it possibly be?

And then I had to, like, go over to the side, and the guy was like, ah, yeah, you got apple in here.

Were you planning on eating that?

And I'm like, honestly, no, it's old.

Just.

Just throw it out.

Okay.

This is something you learn as an allergic kid flying.

Like, I know I always dump all.

Basically all the food that I haven't eaten.

I hate to do it, but, like, you basically have to either leave it on the plane, like, throw it out on the plane or throw it out as soon as you land.

Because on the plane, that's what you're supposed to do.

That's what they tell you to do.

Like, it should stay on.

Because I think all of the stuff that gets disposed.

That was on a plane is disposed of in a really specific way to protect wherever they've landed from.

Like, because what they're worried about is, like, I don't know, like, things coming in from abroad that don't belong, like, in that ecosystem.

I can't explain this well, but.

So, yeah, they dispose of everything that was on the flight, like, very carefully.

So this is what I was told that you're supposed to, like, just ask to toss it before you get off the flight.

But, yeah, this is always a problem when I have a connecting flight because I'm like, I'm only halfway through my journey.

I need this food sometimes.

Like.

Like, sometimes when we land somewhere, I just, like.

I'm just, like, eating everything at the end of the flight, like, trying to get it, like, in my body because I'm like, I need to conserve as much energy before I have to toss this.

Well, if you want a good laugh, I highly recommend checking out TSA on threads.

This is their bio, their name on their travel tips, and dad joke hits.

And their bio is Princess of Puns, King of Canines, Teller of Travel Tips.

Passion for Prohibited Items, Admirer of Alliteration.

And then here's a couple more just before we go.

Why did I get an alarm on my body scanner?

Matt, there's an entire bottle of ranch in your pocket.

And not to point fingers, Alaska, but benzos and hydros are no nos inside your shampoo bottles.

Like, these have to be based off of real life.

Like, I don't know how they're finding them.

If they're making this up, I'm living for it.

This is the TSA content I need.

Just, like, hilarious, wholesome good times.

And Stop being racist to people.

Yeah.

I would, like, love to know what they actually find.

I'm sure some wild stuff goes down.

Oh, yeah, There's a whole TV show that's about kind of like trying to find criminals at airports and stuff.

But it feels kind of problematic to me.

And they never find any good stuff.

It's always just like, oh, there was coke deep inside this.

Zipper of a zipper of a zipper inside this.

That's the thing.

Bring us the joke.

Yeah, I want the good stuff.

I want the funny stuff.

I want someone who was, like, pulled over for.

Yeah.

Trying to bring eight bottles of Ranch across the border.

They could really use this as a mechanism to make people feel a little bit better about tsa.

Cause I think it's like a.

Just everyone hates them.

So this is what I think that this is maybe an attempt of.

Cause otherwise, you go to the airport and you're getting yelled at the whole time.

You're like, I'm sorry.

I promise I have nothing else in my pockets.

I have literally everything's in my hand.

18 lint balls in my hands.

I have nothing else.

I promise.

Getting yelled at an airport, you're just trying to go on vacation.

Yeah.

Well, you know that it's changing the stuff you'll be able to bring on.

Flights to more limited or less limits.

Less limits.

Oh, interesting.

Yeah.

It's already happening in Europe where they're going to, like, up the amount of liquids that you're allowed to bring, like, as a carry on.

Okay, nice.

And also a lot of the airports in Europe now, we have a few of these machines in Pearson, but also in Vancouver's airport, they have, like, new scanning machines where you don't need to take everything out, which is honestly life changing.

Yeah.

Because I get so stressed, especially, like, when I'm remote working.

I have, like, my work laptop.

I have all my camera gear.

I usually have the drone.

I have, like, so much gear on me, and I have to take all of it out.

Yeah.

Especially the way that you travel, too.

Like, you have a pretty tight bag full of just the necessities I'm imagining.

It's a pretty firm bag that you've packed very strategically, Tetris style.

And then you have to get to the airport.

They're like, all right, take everything out.

You're like, put my underwear.

I know.

I usually.

It's like a work of art the way that I've packed this bag only to have it get destroyed.

Yeah, yeah.

So, yeah, I petition for, like, all airports to use these new machines.

Because it's also faster, right?

Because, like, that's part of the reason these security lines take forever.

It's because everyone has to, like, take everything out.

But with these machines, you literally just drop your stuff and, like, goes through and pops out the other end and you're on your way.

Yeah.

Ugh.

Please bring it to the airports.

Bring it to the gosh dang airports.

The last time I was at Pearson, I saw the new machines.

They were right there, but they were making everyone go through the old machines.

And I screamed into the void in my brain, well, I'll be at Pearson.

In probably three weeks or so.

So I will let you know if anything's changed if I get the magic.

The magic one.

Well, Erin, thank you for this postcard.

I'll see you in another two weeks for one of our regular episodes.

Yeah, this has been fun.

Lots of good stuff.

Well, I'll catch you in the next postcard, and thanks for listening.

If you enjoyed this, feel free to send us a message or share this episode with a friend.

And be sure to tune in for our regular episode, which will come out in two weeks and catch you in the next one.

Sam.