A 22-year-old medical student from India has revealed how he built an AI-generated Donald Trump fan. She became a viral Instagram AI influencer. He made thousands of dollars in the process. The story revealed a growing and deeply disturbing trend across social media. WIRED provided extensive details about the “hoax.”
The student, identified only as Sam, was struggling financially. His parents sent some money, but most of it was drained by the licensing exams.
He tried YouTube shorts and sold study notes. Nothing worked well enough. Then he hit on an idea that changed everything.
Emily Hart
Sam decided to create an AI-generated woman and sell the content online. He used Google’s Gemini AI tool to create it. His early attempts at generic attractive pictures went nowhere. He then asked Gemini for advice on how to stand out. The AI chatbot reportedly steered him in a surprising direction.
“If you create a generic ‘hot girl,’ you’re competing with a million other models,” WIRED quoted Sam Google Gemini as saying.
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“Conservative audiences (especially older men in the US) often have higher disposable income and are more loyal,” he added.
The AI tool suggested targeting the Republican MAGA and conservative niche specifically. It described conservative American men as loyal and financially generous. Sam followed the advice without hesitation.
Created by Emily Hart, a fictional registered nurse. She was designed to resemble actress Jennifer Lawrence. Her Instagram showed her ice fishing, shooting rifles and drinking beer.
Her headlines were aggressively political and pro-Trump. She posted anti-immigration, anti-abortion and pro-Christian content daily. Sam wrote every single caption himself. He has never lived in America, but he has carefully studied MAGA culture.
Emily Hart is going viral
The results shocked even Sam himself. Individual reels received millions of views. Within a month, Emily had over 10,000 followers. Many of them subscribed to her content on Fanvue, the OnlyFans competition.
Sam spent less than an hour a day managing everything. He earned several thousand dollars every month. He also sold MAGA-themed t-shirts through the account.
It was extraordinary money for a medical student in India. Most professional jobs in India could not match these earnings. Sam described it as the easiest money he’s ever made online.
Why it worked
Researchers claim that artificial intelligence has made fake profiles much more credible than before. Young conservative women are truly rare in the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement. This rarity makes them much more noticeable on social media.
“AI has made them more believable and perhaps amplified,” WIRED quoted Valerie Wirtschafter, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, as saying.
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Algorithms also heavily reward controversial and polarizing content. Liberal users who visited the site to leave angry comments also helped.
Their engagement pushed Emily’s content further into viral territory. Sam called the whole strategy “baiting rage” and said it was a win-win.
“Democrats know it’s AI bullshit, so they don’t get involved as much. The MAGA crowd is made up of stupid people — like super stupid people. And they fall for it,” Sam told WIREd.
He also tried to create a liberal version of Emily. It failed almost immediately. He claimed that liberal users were quicker to identify AI-generated content. They just didn’t engage in the same way.
The dark side
Sam ended up using another AI tool to create explicit images of Emily. He uploaded them to Fanvue and made thousands more within days.
Fans sent him payments and messages believing Emily was real. Some of the interactions were deeply uncomfortable and bizarre. But the money kept coming and Sam kept going.
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Experts studying the trend warn that it reflects a serious problem. Many people, even younger digital users, simply don’t care if the content is real. They will engage anyway if the sentiment appeals to them.
Emily Hart has been banned by Instagram
Instagram eventually banned Emily’s account for fraudulent activities. By then, Sam says he was already planning to quit. He returns to study medicine.
He says he doesn’t regret anything and doesn’t consider it a scam. People were happy with the content, he claims, and he got paid.
Emily Hart was fake from the first post. Millions of people never once questioned it.
