A viral pro-Trump influencer who appeared to be a blonde American woman was revealed to be a fully AI-generated persona made by a 22-year-old Indian medical student. WIRED reported the account, called “Emily Hart,” was assembled using generative AI to produce her face, body, captions and political identity.
The creator, using the pseudonym “Sam,” is an aspiring orthopedic surgeon who said he began the project while facing financial strain during his studies. Sam used AI tools — including Google’s Gemini — which reportedly recommended targeting conservative “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) audiences in the US, especially older men who are more engaged and likely to spend money online.
Sam crafted Hart as a stereotypical pro-Trump influencer: a blonde, Christian, gun-supporting American woman. Her posts showed her in bikinis, ice fishing, drinking beer and handling firearms; the profile also claimed she was a nurse and was modeled to resemble actress Jennifer Lawrence, WIRED said.
Within a month, “Emily Hart” amassed over 10,000 followers and began earning via subscription platforms like Fanvue, where users paid for exclusive AI-generated content. Sam also used x’s Grok AI to create more explicit images for monetization. He said he spent under an hour a day managing the account but made several thousand dollars monthly — far above typical student income in India. “I was basically doing nothing, and it was just flooded with money,” he told WIRED.
The operation ended after Instagram removed the account in February for fraudulent activity, and Facebook later took down the linked profile after the scheme was exposed.
