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AI influencer awards season is upon us

AI influencer awards season is upon us

First came the AI beauty pageant. Then the AI music contests. Now, there is an award for AI Personality of the Year — perhaps the inevitable next step for the AI influencer economy as it transforms from quirky novelty into a serious and lucrative industry.

The contest, a joint venture between generative AI studio OpenArt and AI-powered creator platform Fanvue, with backing from AI voice company ElevenLabs, opens on Monday and runs for a month. The organizers said it is intended to “celebrate the creative talent ‘behind’ AI Influencers” and recognize their growing commercial and cultural clout.

Contestants will compete for a total prize fund of $20,000, which will be split between an overall winner and individual categories of fitness, lifestyle, comedian, music and dance entertainer, and fictional cartoon, anime, or fantasy personality. Victors will be celebrated at an event in May that the organizers are dubbing the “‘Oscars’ for AI personalities.”

To enter, you must develop your AI influencer on OpenArt’s platform and submit it at www.AIpersonality.ai. You’ll be asked for social media handles across TikTok, X, YouTube, and Instagram, as well as the story behind the character, your motivations for creating it, and details of any brand work.

Among those assessing contestants are 13‑time Emmy‑winning comedy writer Gil Rief, the creators of Spanish AI model Aitana Lopez, and Christopher “Topher” Townsend, the MAGA rapper behind AI-generated gospel singer Solomon Ray. According to a copy of the judges’ briefing seen by The Verge, contestants will be scored on four criteria: quality, social clout, brand appeal, and the inspiration behind the avatar. Specific points include reliably engaging with followers, portraying a consistent look across social channels, accurate details like having the “right number of fingers and thumbs,” and having “an authentic narrative” behind the avatar.

The contest is open to established creators and novices alike, though existing AI influencers will still need to submit material produced on OpenArt’s platform, Matt Jones, head of brand at Fanvue, told The Verge.

Despite being designed to celebrate creators of virtual influencers, Jones said that entrants don’t need to publicly identify themselves. “If a person who created this amazing piece of work wants nothing to do with the press or to expose themselves or to have their name out there, that’s obviously fine,” he said. “There would be no need to thrust anybody into the limelight here. We would just celebrate the piece of work.”

That creators can remain anonymous feels odd for a contest judging authenticity, particularly in an AI influencer ecosystem built on fictional people, fake personas, and fabricated backstories. That same anonymity has also helped grifts flourish with little accountability, from the AI white nationalist rapper Danny Bones to MAGA fantasy girl Jessica Foster.

There’s familiar baggage too, including persistent questions about originality, whether AI-generated work, or even a likeness, has been lifted from real creators, and whether these tools simply reproduce the same old biases in synthetic form. Organizer Fanvue has already faced criticism for this in the past: in 2024, a Guardian columnist described its “Miss AI” beauty pageant as something that “take(s) every toxic gendered beauty norm and bundle(s) them up into a completely unrealistic package.”

To Fanvue’s Jones, creators inevitably leave something of themselves in the AI characters they make. “You can’t help but put a little bit of yourself into the stories that you tell and the characters that you make,” he said, urging creators to “lean into that.” The idea feels at home in the influencer economy: not strictly real, but a form of synthetic authenticity the internet already knows how to handle.

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If your T-Mobile service was disrupted on Monday, you may be able to get some compensation for your troubles.

Multiple outlets, including KTLA in Los Angeles, have reported that some T-Mobile customers have been able to get at least $20 off their next bill because of the outage. One Reddit user said they were able to save as much as $80 (spread out over multiple billing cycles) by telling customer service that they missed out on a work opportunity because of the outage.

Generally, it seems that these credits are not automatic, and you may have to personally contact T-Mobile customer service to be compensated for your troubles.

After a major Verizon mobile outage in January, Verizon offered all affected customers a $20 credit.

Millions of T-Mobile users found their phones stuck in SOS mode on Monday afternoon, which led to plenty of criticism of the brand on social media. T-Mobile did acknowledge and apologize for the outage, though it has not explained what happened.

Mashable contacted T-Mobile repeatedly to ask about the outage and its causes, but so far, the company has been silent. The most recent post at the T-Mobile news page is the company’s Q2 2026 earnings report, in which the company saw growing revenue and profits, with total revenue for the quarter of $22.7 billion.

#TMobile #outage #credit #bill">T-Mobile outage: You might be able to get credit on your bill
                                                            If your T-Mobile service was disrupted on Monday, you may be able to get some compensation for your troubles.Multiple outlets, including KTLA in Los Angeles, have reported that some T-Mobile customers have been able to get at least  off their next bill because of the outage. One Reddit user said they were able to save as much as  (spread out over multiple billing cycles) by telling customer service that they missed out on a work opportunity because of the outage. 
        SEE ALSO:
        
            T-Mobile is giving away the Apple iPhone 17 for free — how to qualify
            
        
    
Generally, it seems that these credits are not automatic, and you may have to personally contact T-Mobile customer service to be compensated for your troubles.
        
            Mashable Light Speed
        
        
    

After a major Verizon mobile outage in January, Verizon offered all affected customers a  credit.Millions of T-Mobile users found their phones stuck in SOS mode on Monday afternoon, which led to plenty of criticism of the brand on social media. T-Mobile did acknowledge and apologize for the outage, though it has not explained what happened.

    
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Mashable contacted T-Mobile repeatedly to ask about the outage and its causes, but so far, the company has been silent. The most recent post at the T-Mobile news page is the company’s Q2 2026 earnings report, in which the company saw growing revenue and profits, with total revenue for the quarter of .7 billion.

                    
                                            
                            
                        
                                    #TMobile #outage #credit #bill

T-Mobile service was disrupted on Monday, you may be able to get some compensation for your troubles.

Multiple outlets, including KTLA in Los Angeles, have reported that some T-Mobile customers have been able to get at least $20 off their next bill because of the outage. One Reddit user said they were able to save as much as $80 (spread out over multiple billing cycles) by telling customer service that they missed out on a work opportunity because of the outage.

Generally, it seems that these credits are not automatic, and you may have to personally contact T-Mobile customer service to be compensated for your troubles.

After a major Verizon mobile outage in January, Verizon offered all affected customers a $20 credit.

Millions of T-Mobile users found their phones stuck in SOS mode on Monday afternoon, which led to plenty of criticism of the brand on social media. T-Mobile did acknowledge and apologize for the outage, though it has not explained what happened.

Mashable contacted T-Mobile repeatedly to ask about the outage and its causes, but so far, the company has been silent. The most recent post at the T-Mobile news page is the company’s Q2 2026 earnings report, in which the company saw growing revenue and profits, with total revenue for the quarter of $22.7 billion.

#TMobile #outage #credit #bill">T-Mobile outage: You might be able to get credit on your bill

If your T-Mobile service was disrupted on Monday, you may be able to get some compensation for your troubles.

Multiple outlets, including KTLA in Los Angeles, have reported that some T-Mobile customers have been able to get at least $20 off their next bill because of the outage. One Reddit user said they were able to save as much as $80 (spread out over multiple billing cycles) by telling customer service that they missed out on a work opportunity because of the outage.

Generally, it seems that these credits are not automatic, and you may have to personally contact T-Mobile customer service to be compensated for your troubles.

After a major Verizon mobile outage in January, Verizon offered all affected customers a $20 credit.

Millions of T-Mobile users found their phones stuck in SOS mode on Monday afternoon, which led to plenty of criticism of the brand on social media. T-Mobile did acknowledge and apologize for the outage, though it has not explained what happened.

Mashable contacted T-Mobile repeatedly to ask about the outage and its causes, but so far, the company has been silent. The most recent post at the T-Mobile news page is the company’s Q2 2026 earnings report, in which the company saw growing revenue and profits, with total revenue for the quarter of $22.7 billion.

#TMobile #outage #credit #bill

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