TOKYO (TR) – Behind the flood of mysterious, scantily clad beauties on Instagram and TikTok lies a grotesque reality: many of these women do not exist, and the creators cashing in on them are middle-aged men using artificial intelligence to hack the male sex drive.
Operating in a digital gray zone, these unseen “AI masters” are generating massive profits by duping unsuspecting users.
Side-hustle influencer going by the handle “Mirubon” recently peeled back the curtain on this digital alchemy to weekly tabloid Spa! (July 21-28).
Advances in technology
“A few years ago, AI beauties were unnatural, obvious fakes with simply swapped faces,” Mirubon explained. “But technology has advanced to the point where a flawless avatar can be generated from a single photo. Even an uninspiring middle-aged man can now produce perfectly natural dance videos of a stunning woman.”
The financial returns are staggering. Mirubon notes that one man in China recently made headlines by earning 320,000 yen in a single night. In Japan, top-tier creators — now including professional adult video production companies utilizing their industry know-how — are raking in monthly sales in the tens of millions of yen, all with zero talent costs.
The scheme is simple but highly deceptive. Creators post deepfake dance videos on social media to farm followers. They then lure their targets to closed, subscription-based platforms like Fantia. Once there, they sell digital photo books, restricted videos and monthly subscriptions under the guise of an exclusive “fan site.”
Advances in technology
However, simply generating a pretty face isn’t enough to guarantee a payday. Mirubon notes that highly specific “niche” concepts are required to hook paying customers. Instead of a generic college student, successful creators use targeted personas, such as a “30-year-old prep school student taking a gap year.”
The real key to the deception, however, lies in the messaging. The male creators act as the women in direct messages and comment sections, carefully cultivating a pseudo-romance with their followers.
“Because the person inside is a man, they know exactly how to manipulate the lust of other men,” Mirubon said. “This is an area AI still cannot mimic.”
According to the influencer, the vast majority of paying fans have absolutely no idea they are financing the digital fantasies of other men. As the booming AI industry proves, when lust is involved, a man’s tendency to lose all judgment remains a highly exploitable weakness.
