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Virtual Arab Influencer Takes Crown At Miss AI Beauty Pageant
Moroccan virtual influencer Kenza Layli won the Miss Artificial Intelligence Beauty title, netting her creator a prize of $13,000.
It might sound unconventional — and perhaps even a little creepy — but there’s now an artificial intelligence (AI) beauty pageant. The unique event saw 1,500 AI-generated female influencers from around the globe competing for the title of Miss Artificial Intelligence Beauty. The competition was introduced as part of the World AI Creator Awards (WAICAs) in partnership with the content creation platform Fanvue.
During the online broadcast of the ceremony, the “Moroccan virtual influencer” Kenza Layli was crowned Miss Artificial Intelligence Beauty, winning a grand prize of $13,000 for her creator. The French virtual influencer “Lalina” secured the first runner-up position with a $5,000 prize, while the second runner-up was the Portuguese influencer called “Olivia C,” who received $2,000.
Participating in the Miss Artificial Intelligence competition involves building virtual female social media influencers using programs such as OpenAI’s DALL·E 3 and Midjourney. Creators submit their influencers’ pictures and answer typical pageant questions such as, “How can you make the world a better place?” They also need to provide technical details about the AI used in designing their characters.
The jury then selects a winner based on three main criteria:
- Beauty: Contestants are evaluated on traditional pageantry aspects, including physical appearance, poise, and style.
- Social Clout: The social influence of AI creators is assessed based on engagement numbers, audience growth, and cross-platform presence.
- Tech: Contestants are judged on their proficiency with AI tools, including the quality of prompts and the final visual details — especially around hands and eyes, where AI generators often struggle.
Also Read: Top Free AI Chatbots Available In The Middle East
Upon crowning the winner, the judges expressed their admiration for the advanced technology behind the AI beauty and her “personality.” Kenza stood out thanks to her sophisticated features and an impressive 190,000 followers on Instagram. She is capable of speaking seven languages and can interact with fans in real-time, including in a Moroccan local dialect. “Winning Miss AI motivates me even more to continue my work in advancing AI technology,” stated Kenza’s creator.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget
The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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