Amid the whirlwind of fads social media has witnessed since 2020, the last few months have seen a new trend rise its head: AI influencers.
These digitally created personas have full-blown accounts on Instagram, TikTok, and other social media platforms, sharing polished, hyper-realistic posts that draw comments from thousands of followers.
After an Indian student recently confessed to using an AI influencer to put himself through medical school, experts opened up about the dangers of this trend.
One of them even warned that AI-generated media has “moved through the uncanny valley,” and will soon be even less detectable by the average internet user.
Netizens have refused to disengage from influencer accounts that openly declare they are AI-generated
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The comment sections beneath the posts of AI influencers reveal a concerning pattern. Even though the “influencers” do not exist, thousands of comments pour in, which are friendly, complimentary, and even flirtatious in nature.
Some of these profiles openly declare that they are using AI-generated content. Others do not, but are subjected to widespread speculation.
One such profile belongs to Nova Lux, an “influencer” with 36,000 followers who claims to be an 18-year-old from Arizona with polymelia, a condition where one has extra limbs. Nova Lux is seen with four arms in all of her posts.
“You are breathtakingly beautiful,” one viewer wrote on a beach photo of hers.
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Nova Lux has shared collaboration photos with self-proclaimed conjoined twins, Valeria and Camila, who feature in another allegedly AI-run influencer account with 400,000 Instagram followers.
“I seriously want to meet you two. When and where works?” a person wrote under a photo of the “twins” on a bed.
The Instagram accounts of sisters Mia Zelu and Ana Zelu, two travel- and fashion-focused profiles with 312,000 and 255,000 followers, respectively, state in their Instagram bios that they are “AI influencers.” Their photos frequently feature them in European cities and high-end events, wearing designer clothes and makeup.
“What a pair of beauties,” a user commented under a recent photo featuring Mia and Ana at Coachella 2026.
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“She’s so ravishing with this pretty smile in these pics,” another said on a March photo of Mia wearing a Real Madrid jersey, standing at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.
“May God bless you for your inner beauty!” one said about Mia’s photo on the steps of the Met Museum.
Aitana Lopez is another whose profile reveals that she’s AI-made. The digital fitness influencer has 392,000 followers on Instagram.
“You look fantastic as always,” a person wrote under a photo of her posing at a poolside.
Milla Sofia is listed as a “virtual pop singer” with 567,000 Instagram followers, whom her audience often describes as someone “who sings like an angel.”
AI influencers going viral points to “a pandemic of loneliness,” according to experts
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Most of these AI influencer accounts have primarily male followers, and a majority of the comments come from them. Many of these commenters appear to believe that the person they’re engaging with is real, while others don’t seem to care. Regardless, they continue to engage with the profiles frequently.
Those who are engaging with AI influencer content despite knowing, or at least guessing, that the creators are not human are still “having a real experience emotionally,” according to Manhattan psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert.
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“It’s clear that people don’t actually need something to be real in order to feel connected to it,” Alpert told the New York Post. “They just need it to feel responsive.”
“If an account is engaging, consistent, and seems to ‘get’ them, the brain starts to treat that interaction as meaningful.”
Forensic psychologist Carole Lieberman attributed this behavior to a “pandemic of loneliness” among human beings. She said it marks a “very sad state of affairs” and a “societal loss of humanity.”
“Even when we know or suspect that a social media user’s persona and content are all AI-generated, we engage with them because it seems better than nothing,” she explained. “Sometimes we go into denial and convince ourselves that it is — or could be — a real person.”
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Dr. Hany Farid, an AI expert and co-founder of GetReal Security, a company focused on fighting digital deception, gave a dire warning about the already bleak situation.
He said that viewers are “vulnerable to being deceived” more than ever before, as AI technology has advanced to the point where it is erasing the line between real and deepfake content.
“We absolutely see some accounts disclosing [that they’re AI-generated], but I’m confident that the vast majority of content is not,” Dr. Farid told the outlet.
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“Images, voices, and video have moved through the uncanny valley. The average person simply cannot reliably tell the difference between a real person and an AI-generated person.”
The Indian medical student, who recently shared that he had created an AI influencer to earn some extra cash, revealed that he didn’t feel like he was “scamming” people, as viewers didn’t care even if they could tell the photos and videos were fake.
An Indian student made “thousands of dollars” using an AI influencer to pay for his medical school
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The aspiring orthopedic surgeon from northern India recently told The Wired that he created an AI Instagram model called Emily Hart, promoted her as a nurse with conservative ideologies, and made enough to pay for his medical school.
Choosing to go by the pseudonym Sam to avoid jeopardizing his medical career and future hopes of immigrating to the U.S., the 22-year-old said that he started with a regular AI-generated girl using Google Gemini’s Nano Banana Pro. However, it did not work.
When he asked Gemini for advice and prompted a few possible niches, the chatbot selected the “MAGA/conservative” one, according to a transcript provided to the outlet. “The conservative audience (especially older men in the US) often has higher disposable income and is more loyal,” Gemini said.
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The account included photos of “Emily Hart” ice fishing, drinking beer, and using firearms at a rifle range.
“Every day I’d write something pro-Christian, pro-Second Amendment, pro-life, anti-abortion, anti-woke, and anti-immigration,” Sam shared.
Soon, the account “blew up,” garnering 3-10 million views per reel. “The algorithm loved it,” Sam said.
Sam used Emily’s popularity to launch an account on Fanvue, a subscription-based content platform. Between the Fanvue account and selling conservative-themed T-shirts, Sam started making “a few thousand dollars” per month.
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“I was spending maybe 30 to 50 minutes of my day, and I was making good money for a medical student,” he said. “I was basically doing nothing, and it was just flooded with money.”
In one instance, a subscriber sent Sam additional money for an explicit video of Emily. “It was incredibly weird, but he sent me a $50 tip, so I was like, OK, do what you want,” he said.
Emily’s account was up for a few months before Instagram took it down in February 2026 and officially banned it for “fraudulent” activity. Meta removed Emily’s Facebook account after The Wired article was published.
“Men fall for anything.” Netizens reacted to the new trend of AI influencers going viral on social media
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