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

• Fanvue, a subscription platform similar to OnlyFans, is betting on AI-generated creators.
• Fanvue founder and CEO Will Monange told Insider that he believes AI creators “will thrive.”
• Creators behind AI-generated models said they’re finding success with adult content on the platform.

Emily Pellegrini, an Instagram influencer, may appear to be any other creator — but she is not. She was created using artificial intelligence.

Pellegrini, who has over 80,000 Instagram followers, is also an adult-content creator. And she’s one of several AI-generated characters whose presences on Fanvue, a platform for subscriber-only content similar to Patreon or OnlyFans, are successfully monetizing.

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

Fanvue, on the other hand, is optimistic about AI and sees it as a goldmine of opportunity for not only streamlining processes but also creating new characters that do not exist in real life.

The platform is developing a set of capabilities known as “Fanvue AI.” This currently includes an AI message generator in chats that is based on a customized model that iterates over time to respond as the creator would, as well as a tool to clone the creator’s voice and have AI generate audio notes.

Fanvue’s AI collects data from subscribers and provides insights to creators by comparing it to platform data and suggesting improvements. In early 2024, it intends to create customized “creator coaches” based on these capabilities.

In terms of AI-generated characters, Fanvue founder and CEO Will Monange believes they will “thrive” and become as common as human creators. This includes those who create unsuitable 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 went on to say. “What motivates their audience to interact and engage with them?” Fundamentally, behind that engagement is a creative person who knows how to express themselves. Whether it’s a person who serves as the face of that or a virtual creator, the fundamentals remain very similar.”

This is the case with Sika Moon, an AI model whose creator writes on her blog that she used AI to create a “alter ego” and explore her creativity.

AI-generated adult-content creators are finding success

There has been a lot of buzz about AI-generated adult content. Consider Unstable Diffusion, a platform focused on this type of content that, according to its CEO, was producing over 500,000 images per day during the summer.

Unstable Diffusion is a straightforward text-to-image generator. However, the creators of the AI models with whom Insider spoke take a unique approach, combining several tools and spending hours or entire workdays refining the images to make them as realistic and detailed as possible.

Many users are responding favorably.

Sika Moon has nearly 270,000 followers on Instagram. Sarah Jordan, another popular Fanvue user, has over 500,000 followers.

There has also been a financial return on the content. Pellegrini, for example, has earned $9,688 from Fanvue subscriptions, pay-per-view content, and fan tips in the last six weeks. This information was verified by an insider using documentation provided by the company. The model’s creator stated that she currently has about 100 subscribers 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 technology leaders warning that the technology is growing “too fast.” However, both Monange and the creators of Fanvue’s AI adult-content stars have stated that they are treading carefully.

“AI has many great things, many good tools, but it’s also very dangerous,” said Emily Pellegrini’s creator, who requested anonymity in order to protect their relationship with the model’s fans.

Deepfakes and child pornography were mentioned as two of the most dangerous applications of the technology, which they hope will be severely punished.

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

Monange, for one, is adamant that the technology is a means of enhancing human capabilities rather than replacing 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 told reporters.