I'm a man who created a sexy female AI influencer to make extra money. It's been harder and weirder than I thought.

• A man created a female AI influencer in order to make money after losing his job.
• "Kimochii" gained 43,000 Instagram followers with her racy content.
• But the creator doesn't interact with fans directly and this made it harder to monetize.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with the male creator behind AI influencer Kimochii. He asked to remain anonymous, but Business Insider has verified he created Kimochii. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I started getting interested in AI-image generation in the summer of 2023 while working as a graphic designer for a mobile app.

At first, I was just interested in seeing how it worked, and I was making landscapes. I'm really into comics and manga, so I was also trying to replicate this style using AI, which worked quite well.

Then, I read a news article about how much money AI-generated influencers could earn, and I thought, "That's pretty interesting. Maybe I should try to do that myself." I was doing it as a side project and experimented with different characters before landing on Kimochii.

Around that same time, my company notified me that they would let me go, so I started thinking about how to make money. I thought an AI influencer would be the easiest and quickest way.

I found out there was a whole community of creators of AI influencers. I joined a Discord channel where I learned a lot about the technicalities and how to promote and market the character.

Kimochii quickly gained over 43,000 followers on social media with sexy content. I also post not-safe-for-work pictures behind a paywall on Patreon and Fanvue, two subscription platforms similar to OnlyFans.

I needed to make money, and everybody knows sexy stuff is the easiest way — even though it hasn't been as easy as I had imagined. I'm happy when I make $300 or $400 in a month.

I find interacting with followers weird, so I try to avoid it

Because I'm creating an AI character, I don't really want to lie to people, so I don't chat with them much.

When engaging with other AI characters, like in Instagram comments, it's easier to act as the persona and add comments like "Babe, you're gorgeous."

Perhaps because of this, I haven't been able to make that much money. Monetization is better if you talk to people and engage and reply to your fan base: you can send them custom content and use the pay-per-view features, and they are more likely to pay to unlock it.

I think part of the reason the content has been hard to monetize is that I disclose clearly that it's an AI in the Instagram username and bio. I think the people who come to Patreon and Fanvue know that, and that's why they don't send messages. They understand it isn't a real person.

I haven't thought too much about the ethics of what I'm doing

I'm trying to create a persona or character that is supposed to be real, but she's not. So I wonder, is she different from any anime, drawing, or picture you see online? There's a fine line between those two things.

I consider myself an artist, but I understand why this type of art is tricky because AI is trained on images of real people. On the other hand, the AI is trained on so much content that it will never generate a picture of a real person.

There are some practices within the AI community that I have a problem with. I know of a few other AI influencers who have previously published deepfake videos — videos of real women where they swap out the head and facial features for an AI-generated face. I avoid that.

Despite the financial issues, Kimochii is like my baby now. She has a life of some kind. She has a background and a birthday, like a real person. At some point, it feels like a game — like the Sims.

I spend a lot of time brainstorming whether she'll be at the beach, the pool, or the theater. It's a lot of effort to keep people engaged, having new locations, new poses, and new captions. Sometimes you're in front of the white page, and you're like, "Oh my God, what am I going to say?"

When I run out of content ideas, I ask my wife for help — she's all in with this, too, and she finds the technology fascinating.

Even though I'm not making that much money with Kimochii, I'm too invested in her life now. I want her to continue living.