EP 4 MACHINED INFLUENCERS: Virtual avatars, designed based on social media analytics, are now hired as brand influencers and political surrogates. Pop stars and their tracks can now be algorithmically manufactured from an executive's office. Machined Influencers seeks to critically examine the historical and future role of these cultural shapers, both real and imagined, from youtube stars to Washington DC. Through the lens of machine learning, AI behaviors, and interactive systems, Machined seeks to expose and respond to our shared social, affective and political climate by proposing a new crop of influencers that can spike the wheel of the habitual; making us reconsider how we reach, touch and consume each other and the world. What can be learned from current influencer platforms and their partners when it comes to agitating beliefs, desires, fears, ideals? What positions are assumed in response? How do screens mirror, affirm or disavow communities, borders, worlds?