One of the most persistent concerns in the age of AI is that robots will take our jobs. It remains to be seen to what extent these fears are justified, but we are already witnessing some degree of substitution in certain areas. Even niche professions are at risk. For example, the world of OnlyFans chatters is already becoming disrupted.
What Are OnlyFans is chatting, you say? Earlier this year, WIRED published a fascinating investigation into the world of gig workers who are paid to pose as the highest-earning OnlyFans creators in online chats with their fans. Within the industry they are called 'chatters'.
A big part of the appeal of OnlyFans – so I'm told – is that its creators communicate directly with their fans, exchanging messages and sometimes talking for hours. In fact, relationship simulation is as crucial an ingredient to its success as arousal.
Of course, a single creator with thousands of ongoing DM conversations only has so many hours in the day. To manage the flood of amorous messages, it has become common to outsource the conversations to 'chatters' who are paid to fill in for the actual talent.
These chatters used to be mostly contractors from the Philippines, Pakistan, India and other countries with significantly lower wage expectations than the US. But increasingly, human chatters are being replaced by AI-generated stand-ins.
A number of different startups are now selling access to these AI chatters and other generative AI tools – and they say business is booming.
“A lot of creators were like, Hey, there's a need for this,” says Kunal Anand, the founder of a startup offering an AI OnlyFans chat service called ChatPersona. “We built our own model with data we got from many creator chats.”
Since launching last year, ChatPersona has about 6,000 customers, a mix of individuals and agencies, according to Anand.
Anand says that ChatPersona doesn't technically violate OnlyFans' terms of service because it requires a human to press “send” on the messages the AI chatters generate. (It was previously reported that OnlyFans has banned the use of AI chatbots, although the current terms of service do not mention AI chatters.)
OnlyFans did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
