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Artificial intelligence
LifestyleK-Pop

K-pop’s virtual future: Aespa, Eternity, the rise of digital performers and the AI technology that allows stars to perform as avatars

  • K-pop group Aespa, which has both physical and virtual members, had one of the biggest hits so far this year
  • Eternity are an 11-piece virtual girl group created using AI technology from a start-up, Pulse9

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Virtual K-pop performers are a growing trend in South Korea. Aespa members (above) with their avatars. Photo: @saiasei/ Twitter
Tamar Herman
In October 2020, K-pop media company SM Entertainment announced its new girl group, Aespa. The four members of the act, stylised “aespa”, would be joined by virtual “ae” counterparts. The news led to debate online over the potential for dehumanisation, but since then, Aespa have had one of the biggest K-pop hits of 2021 with their recent single Next Level.
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Aespa are far from the only K-pop act to incorporate virtual avatars in their musical projects. On March 22, an 11-member girl group, Eternity, released their single I’m Real. Eternity is said to be the first K-pop group created using artificial intelligence (AI) – formed by the Seoul-based tech start-up Pulse9.

Each “member” has their own personality and biography, and even conducts video interviews. They were picked by online users during last year’s AI.dol Challenge 101, a spoof of the talent search series Produce 101, which produced K-pop groups I.O.I, Wanna One, IZ*ONE, and X1.

Pulse9’s goal is to create a virtual avatar mask of sorts for creatives who, for whatever reason, don’t or can’t show their faces on camera but still want an online personification to show the world.

Aespa had a big hit with their single ‘Next Level’. Photo: @aespapicss_/ Twitter
Aespa had a big hit with their single ‘Next Level’. Photo: @aespapicss_/ Twitter

While not quite lifelike, the realistic feeling is just about there when you watch the music video for I’m Real – and is real enough for some to call Eternity a “deepfake” K-pop group, evoking a term typically used when referring to pornographic content in which individuals’ faces or bodies are virtually embedded without their knowledge.

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