Jessica Foster was a political influencer on Instagram with over a million followers and thousands of likes on her posts, often seen posing with world leaders such as the United States (U.S.) President Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky. However, there is one major catch– she wasn’t real.
Since December of 2025, the accounts portrayed Foster as a U.S. Army soldier, with followers frequently thanking her for her service. At the same time, the account also presented her as an OnlyFans creator, selling and promoting adult content across her social media platforms.
Her accounts were shut down in March of 2026, though the exact identity of the person behind the account remains a mystery. As generative artificial intelligence (AI) continues to improve, the line between authentic content versus artificial creations is becoming increasingly blurred, making it harder to detect misinformation.
To better understand the implications of a political AI-generated influencer, I spoke with Dr. Jackson, a political science professor at BGSU with 28 years of experience.
A BGSU Political Science professor, David Jackson, explains social media creates “parasocial relationships” where followers feel personally connected to an influencer even though they may have never met before.
Jackson adds, “When you’ve got something like this situation where it’s revealed that the ‘person’ on the other end was not in fact a person at all but was generated through AI, I hope that the people who were following this person would have some sort of awakening and realize they were duped.”
However, he acknowledged that spotting generated content is becoming more difficult.
“The AI [technology] is getting better, and so it used to be fairly easy to detect some of the really fake images… the deep fake concept is a real thing where it can trick somebody into thinking they’re interacting with an actual person,” Jackson said.
Additionally, Jackson warned that AI-generated content could be used to spread false political messages.
“You can imagine a situation where a malicious campaign or a malicious supporter of one candidate generates completely fake speeches and fake public statements… I’d worry about the fact that people would actually believe it,” Jackson said.
Jackson emphasized the importance of audiences remaining self-aware of the content they consume, encouraging them to ask themselves why this message exists and why it’s being presented to them.
“As in all news and entertainment media, it’s important for the public or consumer or the voter to realize that in many ways they are the product. Access to your eyeballs and your brain is what is being sold… you have to basically not take anything at face value,” Jackson said.
Beyond spreading misinformation, Jackson also highlighted the pace of technological advancement with artificial intelligence content.
“I personally find keeping up with all of the developments needing to think about them and what effect they’re having as almost overwhelming because the technology and the application of the technology is moving so fast… it can feel very overwhelming and very hard to keep up with what’s going on,” Jackson said.
As AI technology continues to evolve, cases like Jessica Foster emphasize the growing challenge of detecting what is fabricated and how misinformation could become more widespread and believable. Ultimately, Jackson emphasizes that media consumers must remain critical and cautious, analyzing what they see rather than taking it at face value.
