In brief: A Mashable investigation into the AI influencer business found AI personas reposting real comedians’ material, including an account called “Tiffany Sloane” that drew about 377,000 Instagram followers in under a month before its videos were removed.
Adult creators have dealt with AI copies of their likeness for a while. Comedians are now running into it too.
A Mashable report on the AI influencer business describes accounts whose faces, voices and personas are AI-generated. They make money through platform payouts, brand deals and selling to their audiences. Several have gone viral in sketch and stand-up comedy.
The Tiffany case
According to Mashable, the account “Tiffany Sloane” (@tiffany.bbyx) had about 377,000 followers and 118 posts as of Oct. 6, with its first post on Sept. 11. In an Oct. 4 Instagram video, comedian George Brett Olsen posted a side-by-side showing the AI character in a similar outfit, with similar gestures, telling his joke. (Mashable spells his surname both “Olsen” and “Olson.”)
What’s crazy to me is you can’t report this. A bunch of people tried
He added that “they screwed up my punchline.” Mashable reported that the account’s videos were later taken down. It did not say who ran the account.
Why creators should care
Mashable also describes tools that let a person film themselves and transfer the performance onto a fictional character, along with courses selling the business model. The same tools can turn any creator’s work into material for an AI persona.
OnlyFans’ updated terms, effective Nov. 1, ban using creator content to train AI and require AI content to clearly feature the verified creator. The Tiffany account grew on Instagram.
So the AI account took a real comic’s joke and his outfit, and by his account still got the punchline wrong.