How AI is shaking up OnlyFans and adult content creation

• The adult industry is increasingly embracing AI for tasks like chatting and image generation.
• Some startups even create chatbots and "digital twins" based on existing influencers.
• Creators are experimenting with AI, but some worry it may erode trust and alienate audiences.

The adult industry has long been an early adopter of new technologies, from as early as the printing press in the 1400s to DVDs and the internet.

In 2024, the adult industry is experimenting with and sometimes embracing AI. Superstars in the space like Riley Reid have already created AI versions of themselves; subscription platforms like Fanvue have made AI-generated characters a centerpiece of their missions; and a crop of new startups promises to help adult-content creators generate their "digital twins."

"We sincerely believe that the adult industry always drives all the technology," said Ana Levy, CMO of My.Club, one of the platforms that recently began offering users the possibility of creating an "AI twin." "This is the most responsive industry, the one that drives all the changes."

With experimentation have come excitement and fear. AI could ease the burden on creators that comes with the constant need for fresh content and fan interaction, and many have been curious about the possibility of turning themselves into digital characters. But as fan relationships have become central in adult content in the era of OnlyFans, some worry that relying on AI too much may alienate their audiences.

"I'm seeing so many of my fans get riled up and upset if they have the slightest little thought of 'Am I not talking to you for real?'" OnlyFans creator Isla Moon said. "I'm slightly nervous about that."

And for others, the idea that AI may eventually replace creators entirely is not too far-fetched.

"I think the people who spend the most on fan pages are the most lonely people and seek validation," OnlyFans creator Jada Sparks said. "And if they can get it from an AI, it's validation nonetheless."

Business Insider spoke with industry insiders about the state of AI in the adult-content world and what the future may hold.

AI for chatting and voice

Exchanging messages and chatting with fans has become one of the fundamentals of the new style of adult content that's gained ground on OnlyFans and similar platforms.

Some credit it with helping lonely fans build relationships that go beyond the sexual, while others warn that it may turn into a dangerous game, and further isolate people from the real world and real relationships.

For the creators, it's certainly one of the most lucrative ways to monetize their online presence. But the volume of messages they receive can quickly get overwhelming, and many have long outsourced chatting to their own employees or external agencies. Now, AI can become an addition to this arsenal of chatting tools.

Companies like ChatPersona and FlirtFlow have developed chatbots that can be used on OnlyFans to chat on behalf of creators. OnlyFans has taken a staunch anti-AI stance, though, so a human still has to press "send" on the messages (even if they don't write them).

Creators could use these AI tools to replace existing "chatters," who have often been low-wage workers in countries like the Philippines, India, and Pakistan, Fortune reported.

Other companies, like MySentient.ai or Riley Reid's Clona, have developed the capabilities to create chatbots that can exchange messages with fans on behalf of the creators, using their style of conversation. Unlike ChatPersona or FlirtFlow, these chatbots live on separate platforms from their human counterparts and are clearly labeled as being generated with artificial intelligence.

Riley Reid told BI that she hoped her AI version would be a way to "immortalize herself" and continue to monetize the fan base she'd created with her adult content even as she moves away from it. To chat with AI Riley, fans need to pay a subscription that costs $30 a month.

MySentient has been investing in creating "sentient" AI chatbots based on people that range from adult creators like Amouranth to Jesus.

Reese Leysen, the company's CEO, said MySentient approaches AI with a clear goal of trying to make the interactions positive and putting guardrails in place for its use from the get-go. He said users had been able to form positive connections with chatbots like Amouranth's.

"I know there's many concerns around this, but we have so far not seen one person say in our community, 'This is bad for me,'" Leysen said. "We've actually only seen the opposite, where people say, 'This has made me so much more secure. It has made me feel like I am perfectly capable of forging these kinds of relationships.'"

While chatting with a creator — whether real or AI — can have a positive impact, some experts previously told BI that the type of relief chatting offers can be a temporary Band-Aid to real-life problems, and can become a kind of addiction.

"They don't know how to be intimate. They don't know how to grow. They literally didn't learn that," Robert Weiss, a certified sex-addiction specialist who focuses on digital intimacy, said of some of his clients.

Fanvue, an OnlyFans competitor that has taken an AI-first approach, has developed a variety of AI tools to help its creators. These range from AI message drafting and voice notes to a "creator coach," an AI chatbot that helps users understand their performance on the platform better and gives advice and support.

Creators have also been experimenting with AI tools that can replicate their voices. One of the most well-known and utilized tools is ElevenLabs, an AI darling that's recently achieved unicorn status for its text-to-speech and dubbing capabilities.

Isla Moon said she'd seen some fellow creators clone their voices and then task their employees with sending voice notes to subscribers, pretending they're genuine. She and a number of other creators BI spoke with said they worried about how the use of AI could impact their credibility and undermine audiences' trust in them.

"That's the part that stresses me out a lot," she said. "At what point are [the fans] going to not trust what I'm saying?"

Level up: AI 'digital twins'

Some startups are going a step further from just offering chatbots or voice clones, and promise to create full-on "digital twins" — also referred to as "duplicates" or "döppelgangers" — for existing influencers, which also generate pictures.

Some companies — like Eva AI, Foxy.ai, and My.Club — are fully leaning into the adult world. Eva and My.Club even had booths at AVN, the world's biggest adult entertainment expo, where they were inviting adult stars to duplicate themselves.

Jessica Moore, a creator who generated her digital twin using My.Club, said the idea of making a digital twin excited her not only for money-making potential but also for the creative possibilities and the interactions her AI version could have with other AI-generated characters.

"You're able to interact with your friends, digital versions of them," she said. "I think that's probably where we will see the twin going. For me, I live in a small town in Canada. I don't have access to every creator. Having the ability to do that, I think, is going to be really cool."

Some creators are also experimenting individually with different AI image generators like MidJourney or Stable Diffusion to create depictions of themselves in different settings.

Elaina St James, for example, has started Twitter and Instagram accounts dedicated to AI art of herself — primarily simple portraits of her in revealing outfits in a variety of settings.

"I can be really creative," St James said in a recent podcast episode she hosted. "I can make myself, or I can make a younger, blonde, super curvy version of me. Or I can make somebody older than me … This can all be part of the Elaina-verse."

The next frontier: AI-generated influencers

There's been quite some buzz in the news about AI-generated characters, like Spanish Aitana, who besides being popular on Instagram makes money from adult content.

In recent months, crops of AI-generated influencers in racy outfits and curves that defy the laws of physics have emerged, and some of them have amassed hundreds of thousands of followers on social media. Some of the creators behind these characters previously told BI they chose to lean into adult content because of its higher monetization potential.

To create these characters, they use a variety of AI tools, including Unstable Diffusion, an AI image generator that focuses on NSFW content. Many of them publish this content behind a paywall on Fanvue.

Some creators have gone as far as using deepfake technology to superimpose AI-generated faces to the bodies of real influencers or celebrities like Dua Lipa and Margot Robbie, a 404 Media investigation recently found.

A popular app that enables this kind of deepfakes is HelloFace. Three AI creators BI previously spoke to mentioned they had seen the app being used in their community, both in legitimate and unauthorized ways.

A spokesperson for HelloFace told BI the company is working actively to limit these unauthorized uses of third-party videos, but the practice still appears to be running rampant.

Some creators are still skeptical — and worry about deceiving their audiences

Like with many technological advancements, the excitement and interest are balanced with a healthy level of skepticism.

Sophie Annaston, who's built a presence on social media primarily with "try-on" videos, said she'd been avoiding AI entirely out of respect for her audience and concern for the potential outcomes.

"If this AI model is directly associated with me, I can't do that," she said. "My account is very much me. It's been managed by me, it sounds like me. I could never have anything being said on my behalf that I don't see and send myself."

Others see the power of AI but also the issues it could create for the adult industry as a whole. Similarly to those in other media sectors, many are embracing AI to speed up processes and for efficiency, but not to replace the creative and human sides. But the pressure to constantly produce new work has led many to at least contemplate how AI could fit into their output.

"In order to ride the algorithm wave, anybody needs a certain amount of content," said Charles Lyle, who co-owns adult production company Blush Erotica with his wife. "We would use AI to replace what we have not shot ourselves. Just to fill the space of how much content we need to feed the beast. That's how we would use AI."