This told essay is based on a conversation with a male creator of AI influencer Kimochii. Although he requested anonymity, Business Insider confirmed that he created Kimochii. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I became interested in AI image generation in the summer of 2023, when I was working as a graphic designer for mobile apps.
At first, I was creating landscapes because I wanted to know how it worked. I love comics and manga, so I tried to recreate this style using AI and it worked out really well.
Then I read a news article about how much money AI-generated influencers could earn and thought, “That’s pretty interesting. I might as well try it.” I was doing it as a side project and was trying out different characters before landing on Kimochii.
Around the same time, I received a notice from my company that I was being laid off, so I started thinking about how to make money. I thought AI influencer would be the easiest and quickest way.
I learned that there is a whole community of AI influencer creators. I joined his Discord channel, where I learned a lot about technical things and how to promote and market characters.
Kimochii quickly gained over 43,000 followers on social media with her sexy content. He also posts unsafe photos behind paywalls on Patreon and Fanvue, two of his subscription platforms similar to OnlyFans.
I needed to make money. We all know that sexy is the easiest way. Even if it’s not as easy as you imagined. I would be happy if I could make $300 or $400 a month.
Kimochii is an AI influencer with 43,000 followers on Instagram.
Creepy
I think it’s weird to interact with my followers, so I try to avoid it.
Since I’m creating an AI character, I don’t want to lie to people too much, so I don’t chat much.
When interacting with other AI characters, such as Instagram comments, it’s easier to act as a persona and add comments like “Baby, you’re gorgeous.”
Because of that, I wasn’t able to earn much money. Talking to people and engaging and responding to your fan base will make your monetization more effective. You can submit custom content and use pay-per-view features. That way fans are more likely to pay to unlock it.
I think one of the reasons it’s so difficult to monetize content is that Instagram clearly discloses that it’s an AI in its username and profile. I think the people who come to Patreon and Fanvue know that, so they don’t send messages. They realize it’s not a real person.
I have never thought much about the ethics of what I do.
You’re trying to create a persona or a character that’s supposed to be real, but she’s not. She’s there, but I’m curious, is she different from any anime, drawings, or photos you see on the internet? There’s a fine line between these two things about her.
I consider myself an artist, but I understand why this kind of art is difficult because AI is trained on images of real people. On the other hand, the AI is trained on so much content that it will never produce a photo of a real person.
There are some practices within the AI community that I take issue with. I know of several AI influencers who have previously published deepfake videos, videos of a real woman with her head and facial features replaced with her AI-generated face. I avoid it.
Despite the financial issues, Kimochii is like my baby now. She has some kind of life. She has her backstory and birthday and she is like a real person. At some points, it feels like a game — like The Sims.
I spend a lot of time brainstorming whether she’s going to the beach, the pool, or the theater. It’s a lot of work to keep people interested with new locations, new poses, and new captions. Sometimes I sit in front of a blank page and think, “Oh my god, what am I going to say?”
When I run out of content ideas, I ask my wife for help. She is fully on board with this too and finds this technology appealing to her.
It’s not like I’m making that much money from Kimochi, but I’m too passionate about Kimochi’s life right now. She wants her to continue living.
