Why OnlyFans rival Fanvue is betting big on AI influencers, especially for adult content

OnlyFans is the most popular subscription platform for adult content. But it currently only allows content enhanced or modified with AI if it belongs to a verified OnlyFans content creator — i.e., a real person, according to its community guidelines.

Fanvue, in contrast, is bullish on AI, and sees it as a trove of opportunity, not only to streamline processes but also to create new characters who don’t exist in real life.

The platform is working to introduce a host of capabilities the team calls “Fanvue AI.” This currently includes an AI message generator in chats, based on a customized model that also iterates over time to respond as the creator would, and a tool to clone the creator’s voice and have it generate audio notes through AI.

Fanvue’s AI also collects data from the subscribers and provides creators with insights, comparing that to platform data and suggesting improvements. It plans to develop customized “creator coaches” based on these capabilities in early 2024.

And when it comes to AI-generated characters, Fanvue founder and CEO Will Monange said he believes they will “thrive” and soon be as widespread as human creators. That includes creators of not-safe-for-work content.

“What AI is doing now is it’s allowing people to be creative, but they don’t have to be the face of that creation,” Monange said. “Why does their audience want to interact and engage with them? Fundamentally, behind that engagement is just a creative person who is expressing themselves and knows how to do that. Whether it’s a person that sits as the face of that, or whether it’s a virtual creator, the fundamental there is still very much similar.”

This is the case with Sika Moon, an AI model whose creator says in her blog that she used AI to develop an “alter ego” and explore her creativity.

AI-generated adult-content creators are finding success

There’s been plenty of interest around AI-generated adult content. Take the example of Unstable Diffusion, a platform focused on this type of content, which was producing over 500,000 images a day in the summer, according to its CEO.

Unstable Diffusion is a simple text-to-image generator. But the creators behind the AI models who Insider spoke with take a bespoke approach, combining several tools and working extensively, for hours or entire workdays, on refining the images to make them as realistic and detailed as possible.

Many users are responding positively.

Sika Moon has almost 270,000 Instagram followers. Sarah Jordan, another successful Fanvue user, has over 500,000.

There’s also been a monetary return on the content. Pellegrini, for example, has made $9,688 on Fanvue in the past six weeks from subscriptions, pay-per-view content, and tips from fans. Insider verified this information with documentation the company provided. The model’s creator said she currently has about 100 fans who subscribe to her content.

Tech leaders say AI needs regulation, but if used carefully, it can be a powerful way to supplement human creativity

AI has sparked ethical concerns, with some tech leaders warning the technology is growing “too fast.” But both Monange and the creators behind the AI adult-content stars on Fanvue said they are trying to tread carefully.

“AI has many great things, many good tools, but it’s also very dangerous,” said Emily Pellegrini’s creator, who asked to remain anonymous to protect their relationship with the model’s followers.

They mentioned deepfakes and child pornography as some of the most dangerous uses of the tech, and ones that they hope will be strictly punished.

“I think there should be regulation, and I always keep up to date with the most recent rules and regulations,” they said.

Monange, for his part, is adamant that the technology is a way to enhance the capabilities of humans, and not a replacement for them — at least in the short term.

“For now and for a long time, it’s going to be more so a tool, an extension of who we are and what we do,” he said.