An AI avatar account with 214,000 followers reposted comedian Olivia Carter's joke nearly word for word — and it had a bigger audience than Carter herself.
Another comic, George Brettelson, said a similar bot copied not only his material but even the outfit he wore while performing it.
Here's what to know
Carter called out artificial intelligence accounts for reposting her work, More Perfect Union's Jackie Kindall reported.
"An AI bot stole my joke," Carter said in a clip before a virtual character delivered one of her bits: "One time, I asked out my personal trainer, and he said, 'Sorry, I'm not attracted to you.' And I was like, 'Well, whose fault is that?'" The cut back to Carter's stand-up shows how exact the AI account was in plagiarizing Carter.
Kindall also cited Brettelson, who called out an AI bot account with upward of 300,000 followers that used one of his jokes. The video showed an AI-generated character on the same comedy stage as Brettelson and in a more revealing version of his outfit. Brettelson added that the account appeared to be using Instagram to promote its OnlyFans page.
Carter had 117,000 followers, while the bot account poaching her content had 214,000. Kindall argued these AI accounts are attracting large audiences "that would have otherwise gone to the human comedians that wrote the jokes and increasingly depend on Instagram to put their work out there."
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These two examples are part of a legal and copyright fight over generative AI. Kindall referenced filings from The New York Times' lawsuit against OpenAI, in which a Microsoft executive was quoted describing AI as "the largest theft of human labor in human history."
More background
AI avatar accounts may be pulling attention away from working comedians who use Instagram as a key part of their careers. Human comics now have to compete against automated accounts built from their own copied material.
"I would love to filter out AI content forever. I hate it and I'm sick of it. I report all of it," one commenter wrote.
Another added, "Not only do they steal the joke, they ruin the punchline and timing."
Someone else said, "AI = computerized plagiarism."
What's being done?
"Nobody asked for AI-generated comedians," Kindall said. "They clearly aren't funny and they're taking away creative work from the comedians that we actually want to see. But instead of giving users the option to opt out of AI content, Instagram is allowing it to take over its entire platform."
Kindall also cited Instagram's Muse Tool, a feature that would have let users create AI deepfakes from other people's Instagram photos — until intense criticism derailed the project.
Kindall argued that Instagram has not offered the protections many users want. Instead of removing AI content or giving people a way to filter it out, the platform has focused on labeling such material even as AI accounts continue spreading through users' feeds.
Where can I learn more?
These stories look at similar clashes among AI, creators, and the platforms that distribute their work.
• Across creative industries, the window for copyright claims on AI training may be closing.
• Comedian Glennis Laroe roasted an audience member after hearing an absurd use for AI.
• On Instagram, users rebelled against energy-sucking AI profiles that flooded feeds with fake personas.
• Meta faced backlash after Mark Zuckerberg pitched AI chatbots for companionship.
• YouTube users said a new AI feature diverted views away from creators.
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