Your Favorite Influencer Might Be AI

Your Favorite Influencer Might Be AI

From Galaxy Brain by The Atlantic

April 10, 2026 · 47 min · Episode 23

About this episode

Charlie Warzel and Tiffany Hsu discuss the rise of AI influencers and the implications of synthetic content on authenticity and audience perception.

On this week’s Galaxy Brain episode, Charlie Warzel is joined by New York Times technology reporter Tiffany Hsu to discuss the rise of AI influencers—synthetic avatars, often indistinguishable from real people, that are flooding social-media feeds to sell supplements and promote brands. Hsu unpacks her reporting on the combination of forces converging around it, including the wellness industry, a historically fertile ground for scammers. The pair discuss how the volume of synthetic content online is producing a new kind of epistemic exhaustion: a fatigue so deep that many people have simply stopped caring whether what they're seeing is real. So is authenticity already beside the point? And is an audience’s emotional response—rather than the truth behind the image—the only currency that matters? Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit…

People in this episode

Host: Charlie Warzel

Guest: Tiffany Hsu

Topics covered

  • AI influencers
  • social media
  • epistemic exhaustion
  • wellness industry

Keywords

  • synthetic avatars
  • emotional response
  • authenticity
  • scammers

Mentioned in this episode

Products: supplements

Books & works: Galaxy Brain, Pulitzer

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