07/21/2026
I’ve been noticing this, and am disturbed by how many people in the comments don’t recognize the difference between AI and a real account. Please be aware.
PSA: Beware AI-Generated Online Influencers Selling You Supplements. It's A Con & It Could Harm You
Last week, I listened to Conspirituality Podcast reporting on AI-generated grifters cashing in by selling supplements and such with fake claims and fake people showing fake impressive results. I'll post that link in the comments below.
Today, I read a NY Times report on the same thing. (I'll post the link for any of you who have a subscription to the NY Times.)
Here's a clip from the transcript of the video article:
“This is what we look like on Day 1 of taking beetroot every day. This is Day 50.”
They look like the kind of wellness influencers you see every day on social media.
“This is Day 77, girl.”
But none of them are real. They are A.I.- generated and designed to sell health supplements on social media. The Times reviewed hundreds of these ads to understand how A.I. video tools are helping a loosely regulated industry target American consumers and profit off of disinformation about their health.
“They’re targeting us people that have health issues.”
Pamela Wundrow is 71. She’s a retired truck driver with a series of health issues related to autoimmune disease. “I’ve always had the joint problems and the inflammation and the fatigue, so I basically wanted something that was going to help me with all that.”
After seeing Facebook ads touting the health effects of moringa, she placed an order for a popular online supplement brand called Rosabella.
“They’re pretty good at advertising this stuff. I do foraging, so I’m always into the plant stuff.” After months of taking her daily dose, she found out some of her pills were contaminated. “It says urgent recall.”
In February, the F.D.A. and C.D.C. announced that Rosabella’s moringa supplement was making people sick with salmonella. Wundrow says she didn’t experience any symptoms of salmonella, but says her health issues got worse while taking the supplement.
“When you already have a health problem before this, and then you take this and then all of a sudden you got worse. Was this part of it? I don’t know. I can’t say, and I don’t know how they could prove it either.”
Ambrosia Brands, the company behind Rosabella, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. But over the past three years, the company has had hundreds of complaints with the Better Business Bureau.
“In Chinese medicine, we have known exactly how to bring this down for generations. I mean, I believe in Chinese medicine, and I can see how this would hook people because she looks real. I have seen others where you can tell it’s A.I. To me this does not look like an A.I.”
So how can we tell if these ads are A.I.-generated? From American flags to idyllic suburban backgrounds, the imagery is repeated over and over and is designed to make the ads seem familiar. Creators also go to great lengths to make their avatars look credible, presenting them as doctors or Eastern medical gurus with fake diplomas on the walls of their fake offices. In some cases, the ads make dangerous health claims like this one, claiming an herbal supplement helped treat kidney disease better than medication.
“We gave 100 people with Stage 3 kidney disease one bottle of Sculptique and told them —”
Ads like these would be illegal on U.S. television, but on the internet, they face little enforcement. Meanwhile, creators around the world are cashing in on A.I. avatars..."
So...buyer beware. If you're going to buy supplements, please get them from a reputable source and not because someone on the internet told you it would cure your disease. They're scamming you and getting away with it, and what they recommend could harm you. Stay safe!
