Stolen Valor in the AI Age.
“Jessica Foster” AI Fake
Jessica Foster, the MAGA dream girl has become a major online personality after a viral Instagram account gained over a million followers in four months. The account shows the woman in military settings, near fighter jets, and alongside global leaders. Trouble is, she’s an AI generated fake.
AI MAGA Influencer, Service Member Scams Fuel ‘Digital Stolen Valor’ Rise
By Ryan Thomas LaBee
A viral Instagram account featuring a blonde Army service member named Jessica Foster, posing alongside world leaders, racked up more than 1 million followers before it was revealed to be fake.
This is only one example in a growing wave of AI-generated personas using military identity to build audiences and generate income online.
The administrators behind Military Phony, a watchdog group that tracks fraudulent military claims, described “digital stolen valor” as the online equivalent of wearing medals you didn’t earn, using exaggerated or fabricated credentials to gain respect, sympathy or opportunity that would otherwise belong to someone else.
They draw a distinction between violations of the federal Stolen Valor Act, which involve falsely claiming certain military honors, such as the Purple Heart or Silver Star, for tangible benefit and broader forms of impersonation that may not meet that legal threshold but are still widely referred to as “stolen valor.”
The rise of AI-generated influencers and impersonated service members is exposing what some observers are beginning to see as a new form of “digital stolen valor,” where synthetic personas adopt the credibility of military service or other trusted professions like nursing, to attract followers, drive engagement, and, in some cases, generate income.
While impersonation and fraud online are nothing new, advances in artificial intelligence are making these identities easier to create, harder to detect, and more effective at exploiting trust.
The ‘Emily Hart’ Account
One such account, operating under the name “Emily Hart,” built a large following by pairing political messaging with curated lifestyle content, eventually directing users toward paid adult content subscriptions.The persona was later revealed to be AI-generated, created by a 22-year-old medical student, according to a report by Wired.
Brave new world- for scammers. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty even, or perhaps especially, in this new AI era. Thanks to our own Military Phony for taking the lead on the latest SV scam.
Category: Stolen Valor
Believe 10% of what you hear and maybe 45% of what you see. If it is online, drop that to about 5%.
One of the things my company does is manufacture packaging, but we also produce advertising materials. One of our large insurance clients used an image that didn’t fill the area they intended to use for that image. Using AI tools I was shocked at how quickly those tools created an entire old mill style ceiling with beams, sprinklers, and common colors to match the original image.
I’ve done some experimenting with animation as well, I took an old photo of our basic training platoon and instructed AI to make all the soldiers smile, wave, and turn to each other…the result is a bit uncanny as guys I haven’t seen in almost 50 years are suddenly moving and smiling as I remember them.
The image looked great, and I was reminded that AI today is as bad as it will ever be…it will only get better every day and it’s already frighteningly good…
This stuff can be convincing. I ran across a Christian Metal band a while back that I really liked. Upon doing research, discovered it was AI. Kinda pizzed me off. The music is still good, but I’d rather have REAL people performing it….
Did you ever listen to Stryper? I still have a few of their albums packed away. I was a Metal Head from back in the day…..
Mike
USAF Retired