I scroll Instagram like I have midnight snacks: furtively, trying not to disturb the others in my household. The sound is off, the glow of my screen directed away from my husband as I scroll in bed.
We got a puppy in July; Kaylee is a Lab mix, puppy soft, and extraordinarily sweet while she’s not stealing and chewing everything that’s not nailed down. I’ve never had any sort of Lab before, so I started researching everything about them—their habits, their personalities, tips for training them. Of course, my searches followed me to Instagram, where the algorithm began to serve me Labrador content. “This is my 8-week-old Lab’s schedule!” “Look at the tricks my 12-week-old Lab can do!”
During my soundless scrolling, I was served a video from MiamiDogDaddy, who offered homeopathic remedies for typical Lab ailments, along with DIY ways to entertain your dog—have them bob for fruit! Drill holes in a cabbage and fill them with peanut butter!
It wasn’t until MiamiDogDaddy posted a video about combating typical Labrador parasites—while holding up a jar writhing with them—that I paused before scrolling to look more deeply. In the top left corner of the video, in a small font, alternating with the information about the video’s “sound,” was a label: AI Creator.
As we write on The American Sunlight Project Substack today, in our latest investigation that was spawned by my Labrador-obsessed scrolling:
Neither MiamiDogDaddy nor his dogs exist.
[I was] far from the only person who has been misled; over 211,000 other users have followed the account, one of a few dozen “AI creators” affiliated with Iron Paws, a dog supplement brand.
From there, Benjamin Shultz and I combed through the accounts MiamiDogDaddy was following to find how far the network extended; we identified nearly 50 AI-generated accounts promoting the Iron Paws supplement, with millions of collective followers. Using the Meta Content Library, Ben was able to estimate that the network had generated at least 27 million views for Iron Paws under the hashtag #ironpawspartner.
I checked each account to see if Meta labeled them or if they disclosed they were AI-generated. Meta only applied the small “AI Creator” label to 21.3% of accounts we identified, though 61.7% of accounts voluntarily disclosed their AI origins with the hashtag “#syntheticperformer”—an ironic hashtag if there ever was one. Can an AI persona that doesn’t exist, doesn’t have memories, and has never experienced the loss of a pet, “perform?”
In total, over one-third of the accounts—which impersonate breeders, mystics, and even vet techs—had no AI disclosures at all.
I hope you’ll read the rest of the ASP investigation here:
These sorts of AI-generated marketing campaigns are rampant; our investigation follows from reporting by 404 Media, Factchequeado, and The New York Times on AI avatars hawking human health supplements. As AI and deepfake expert Henry Ajder told us, “The ease of which you can spin up these kinds of campaigns now and the relatively low cost and time it takes to do it is why I think we’re seeing much more of it.”
And unfortunately for the billions of people consuming vertical video on social media, they’re pretty convincing. Even I was fooled the first few times I encountered MiamiDogDaddy’s content.
Here are a few tips for recognizing this content—though it’s becoming more difficult by the day:
Check for the “AI Creator” label at the top left corner of the video if you’re using Instagram on mobile, or under the username if you’re looking on desktop.
Check for a “#syntheticperformer” or similar hashtag under the video.
Put the sound on—AI-generated audio can sound less natural and more clipped than normal human speech.
Look at the background of the video—is text legible? Does it look like a normal home/environment, or is it too perfect?
These aren’t foolproof—as our investigation proved, labeling is not well-enforced, and AI is becoming more convincing every day. My biggest piece of advice (which I should also take!) is to slow down when you’re consuming content online, and as soon as somebody starts selling you something, start asking questions—who is this person? do they exist? what’s their motivation?—and if you can’t answer any of them, don’t buy their supplement for $39.99 a month. 🧭
The scams are everywhere 😭🤬 yeah, we don’t need regulations
Fascinating piece thank you.