Fake Influencers to Compete for Real Money in ‘AI Personality of the Year’ Challenge

OpenArt and Fanvue want to find the world’s best AI personality and are willing to pay $90,000 to do so.

The AI Personality of the Year 2026 is a four-week global challenge, running now through April 19, where creators design and launch original AI influencers competing on five tracks: Entertainer, Lifestyle Influencer, Comedian, Fitness, and Anime/Cartoon/Fantasy.

Weekly winners receive $200 cash and a platform shoutout, but a much bigger prize awaits the ultimate winner. The grand prize winner will take home $6,000 in cash, plus $2,000 in paid promotion, priority placement on Fanvue and enrollment in both organizers’ affiliate programs.

Track finalists also take home prizes ranging from $5,000 cash and $1,000 in promotional attention for the winner to $1,000 cash for the third finalist in each category. Fan-chosen prizes (Most Viral Video and Audience Choice) add $1,000 each to the pool. Add it all up and the total comes to more than $90,000.

To participate, you must build your character OpenArtstart a public TikTok or Instagram account for it, post at least four times during the challenge period, and tag @OpenArt_AI, @Fanvue, and #AIPersonality2026. That’s simple enough on paper, but likely competitive in practice, as ElevenLabs is the founding sponsor and its ambassador lineup includes some of the most followed AI personalities on the internet right now.

The jury is 100% human, which is refreshing for a change. When Miss AI held its beauty pageant in 2024, two of the four judges were AI-generated influencers themselves. Here, the eleven-person panel includes a thirteen-time Emmy-winning comedy writer, a co-founder of the PR industry and a marketing agency executive.

But “fully human” does not mean that these judges are merely spectators of this world. Some of them built the virtual personalities that people already follow. Diana Núñez Morales, the architect behind Aitana – the Barcelona-based AI model that earns up to €10,000 per month in brand deals and was herself a judge in the Miss AI 2024 pageant – is on the panel.

That includes Cameron Wilson, creator of Shudu, widely recognized as the world’s first digital supermodel; and Christopher “Topher” Townsend, who built Solomon Ray. The people who scored your entry created some of the most successful AI personalities in existence. They know exactly what they are looking at.

The virtual influencer market was valued at approximately $6 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach nearly $46 billion by 2030. As Decrypt reported, AI companions and personas have become so convincing that distinguishing them from real humans “often feels impossible” — and that was more than a year ago. Since then they have only become more realistic. Today there are countless Instagram accounts dedicated to expose influencers who go viral without revealing their AI nature.

OpenArt’s suite includes character creation, image generation, video, and ElevenLabs-powered audio, all in one place. Tutorials on how to build and monetize AI influencers are flooding YouTube, TikTok, and creator newsletters.

The judging criteria for the competition includes quality, inspiration, brand appeal and social influence through a points-based system. It’s not just about how photorealistic your character looks, it’s about whether the audience actually shows up.

The challenge started on Monday and the final winners were announced in May. The virtual influencer economy now has an official talent show. The next Aitana may already be in line for their first post.