A hugely popular MAGA influencer with millions of fans on social media has had her true identity uncovered. Emily Hart garnered a large following on Instagram after she began sharing patriotic content showing her love for the US, including pictures of her posing in a bikini while fishing, drinking beer, and even holding guns. She also posted primarily Republican ideologies in her photo captions, calling for the deportation of immigrants from the US and mocking 'liberals'.
But the woman, who claimed to be a registered nurse, might not actually be who you think she is. In fact, she isn't really anyone at all - because she was created by artificial intelligence (AI). Hart's true identity is actually that of a 22-year-old Indian man who is using the proceeds he makes from the AI-generated images to help pay for medical school, where he is training to become an orthopaedic surgeon.
The man, who was given the fake name 'Sam' to hide his identity, recently told Wired that he got the idea to sell AI-generated images of a woman in a bikini while scrounging for money for school. When he turned to Google's Gemini AI for advice, the software told him he should go for the 'conservative niche' because the target audience, especially men in the US, 'often has higher disposable income and is more loyal'.
Sam made an Instagram profile for the fake woman and began sharing images he'd generated using Gemini, accompanying each of them with a caption that promoted conservative views. He said: 'Every day I'd write something pro-Christian, pro-Second Amendment, pro-life, anti-abortion, anti-woke, and anti-immigration.' The account had 10,000 followers within just the first month of posting, and every reel Sam uploaded garnered millions of views, which only helped to bring in even more followers.
One post showed the AI-generated woman firing a rifle alongside the caption: 'If you want a reason to unfollow: Christ is king, abortion is murder, and all illegals must be deported.' Another caption read: 'POV [point of view]: You were assigned intelligent at birth, but you identify as liberal.'
Sam then decided to cash in on the AI model's appeal even more by creating an account on Fanvue, a competitor to OnlyFans, where paid subscribers could access lewd AI-generated content of the fake woman. Fanvue does allow fully AI-generated content on its platform, but its policy states that accounts must disclose that the content is AI-generated either in the profile bio, content caption, or as a watermark on the media itself. The content also must not be harmful or misleading, and cannot depict a real person or a person resembling someone under 18.
Speaking about the money he was making, Sam said: 'I was spending maybe 30 to 50 minutes of my day, and I was making good money for a medical student. In India, even in professional jobs, you can't make this amount of money. I haven't seen an easier way to make money online.' The man also said he considered making a second AI-generated woman that would cater to the liberal side of Instagram, but he decided against it as he believed they would 'know that it's AI slop'. He then hit out at the conservative people giving him cash, saying they are 'dumb people' who 'fall for' AI-generated content more easily.
The Instagram profile for the AI woman was removed in February for 'fraudulent' activity, according to Wired, as the platform requires creators to disclose whether their content is AI-generated. Sam said he would have stopped posting content of Hart anyway, but has maintained that he doesn't believe he was 'scamming people' with his fake profile.
