Indian Student Created AI Conservative Influencer Emily Hart

A 22-year-old medical student from northern India has been identified as the creator of Emily Hart, a popular artificial intelligence-generated social media influencer who promoted conservative political views and amassed thousands of followers on Instagram before the account was removed for fraudulent activity.

The persona, launched in January 2025, portrayed Hart as a registered nurse resembling actress Jennifer Lawrence, based in the United States. The student, who used the pseudonym Sam to protect his identity while training to become an orthopedic surgeon, developed the account as a way to generate income amid financial pressures from his studies and plans to emigrate to the United States after graduation. He initially experimented with generic AI-generated images of a woman in a bikini but sought advice from Google's Gemini tool, which recommended targeting a conservative audience for its potential loyalty and higher disposable income among older American men.

Using Gemini and other AI platforms, including Elon Musk's Grok, Sam created images and videos depicting Hart in activities like ice fishing, drinking Coors Light beer, and firing rifles, often while wearing a bikini...