Last week comedian Julia Jasunas received a direct message on Instagram from a fellow comic warning her that an Instagram influencer had lifted a joke straight from her routine. While plagiarism is a familiar grievance in the comedy world, Jasunas was still taken aback when she followed the link. The video featured a self‑styled stand‑up performer named Aylen Skye, a curvy blonde with striking cheekbones and 250,000 Instagram followers. Dressed in a crop top and Daisy Dukes, Skye delivered a bit about renting a room to a cute guy that matched Jasunas’s material word for word, including the same filler “ums” and “ahs.”
Skye’s profile did not resemble a typical comedian’s. The site she promoted, AylenTV.com, redirected to adult content on Fanvue, a subscription platform that markets itself as the “No1 AI monetisation platform for creators.” The comments under Skye’s posts were uniformly positive, a stark contrast to the usual barrage of misogynistic remarks that female comics often endure. That discrepancy led Jasunas to suspect the account was not run by a real person but by artificial intelligence.
“It feels like a violation on many levels,” Jasunas said. “Having your jokes stolen is one thing; seeing them repurposed in a hyper‑sexualized way for someone else’s profit is another.” She reported the video to Meta for impersonation, but the company replied that the content did not breach its community guidelines because Skye was not pretending to be Jasunas, merely presenting the joke as her own. Most of Skye’s posts have since been flagged as AI‑generated, though the account itself remains active.
Jasunas is not alone. Wired identified eight comedians whose viral bits have been recreated by scantily clad, AI‑generated women who often follow each other on social media. The fabricated videos replicate successful stand‑up clips but add higher production values, brighter lighting, clearer sound and tighter outfits to maximize shareability. Some of the accounts also post fake late‑night interview segments with hosts such as Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel, and occasionally slip in provocative jokes that cater to extremist audiences.
Instagram’s rules ban impersonation but do not forbid copying content that is not copyrighted, and the platform permits AI‑generated material as long as it is labeled accordingly. While a few accounts carry an AI disclaimer, many do not, and labeling is inconsistent. Skye did not respond to a request for comment, though it has posted snide replies to comedians who call it out, suggesting they focus on creating content rather than “whinny” posts.
What frustrates the comedians most is that the AI videos often outperform the originals, prompting calls for stronger protection of creators’ work on Instagram. “AI is evolving very fast, and we need rules to protect creators before this becomes a bigger issue,” said Mandy Martino, another comic whose joke was stolen by Skye. “It’s not just about a joke being stolen—it’s about this being a change that we need to get ahead of. And Instagram saying this isn’t a problem is the scariest part.”
The problem has been surfacing since June, with comedian Steph Clark regularly documenting similar AI “pick‑me” clips on her Instagram. Early examples featured a lanky redhead delivering a nonsensical punch line about fake orgasms and bad cooking. Over the following months, the technology improved dramatically, making it harder to tell whether the women in the videos are real.
One prominent example is Tiffany Sloane, who lists herself as an actress in her Instagram bio and boasts more than 375,000 followers. The 19‑year‑old with a septum piercing and a BBL engages in crowd work, jokes about quarter‑zips and Jimmy Buffett songs, and includes a link to an OnlyFans profile. Since launching in August, Sloane has expanded to TikTok and Facebook, where she runs what writer Ryan Broderick describes as a “super horny AI‑generated short‑form video content farm.”
On October 3, comedian George Brett Olson posted a side‑by‑side comparison titled “AI stole my joke!!!” The video juxtaposed his original bit about Republicans ignoring AI risks while stoking panic over illegal immigration with Sloane’s near‑identical rendition. Both clips feature the same backdrop and similar salmon shirts and khaki shorts; only Olson’s version contains an expletive in the punch line. “I was kind of in shock,” Olson said, reflecting the growing alarm among comedians as AI‑driven, sexually charged replicas continue to proliferate across social platforms.