(Reuters) - OnlyFans is a porn-saturated website that offers its subscribers a chance to forge "authentic relationships" with content creators.
But many OnlyFans porn stars rely on "chatters" to impersonate them in messages designed to pry dollars from randy subscribers. And, increasingly, some of those chatters aren't even human - they're bots.
Some agencies that manage OnlyFans porn performers say they use AI software to sext with subscribers, bypassing or minimizing the need for human chatters.
The software is openly advertised to management agencies but not disclosed to OnlyFans subscribers, who are left to assume they're chatting in real time with porn stars.
The website of U.S.-based NEO Agency boasts that it has designed an AI chatbot that "doesn't just send messages; it creates authentic connections."
The chatbot, called FlirtFlow, "captures the essence of years of relationship-building expertise, ensuring every interaction is genuine and meaningful."
OnlyFans' terms of service explicitly prohibit the use of AI chatbots by its creators. "You cannot use an AI chatbot to write chats or direct messages," the terms say.
OnlyFans declined to answer questions from Reuters about the use of AI on the site. The company has said that its terms of service make clear that creators are legally responsible for any transaction with a subscriber.
OnlyFans' promise of direct connections between creators and subscribers has set it apart from other porn sites and made it rich. The company, which takes a 20% cut of its creators' income, reported nearly $1.1 billion in revenue in 2022.
The companies that use chatbots are not formally affiliated with OnlyFans. But they work with creators and their management agencies, which have access to OnlyFans accounts.
NEO Agency manages about 70 OnlyFans porn creators and perhaps half of them use FlirtFlow, says CEO Luc Jaris. So do dozens more creators at 20 or so other agencies, he said.
Until a few years ago, AI couldn't "really comprehend" flirtation, he said, but now the chatbot can be better at it than actual humans.
The software uses a "conversational mode" - effectively, small-talk - to solicit basic information from subscribers, Jaris said.
"You cannot directly jump into the typical 'Hey, Daddy, tip me!' stuff," he explained. "You have to start by really comprehending the fan . . . Where's he from? What's his problem? Why does he hate his boss? What's his dog's name? You collect information. Because otherwise, how are you supposed to connect with him? How are you supposed to get money out of him?"
Jaris said the chatbot is most effective with accounts so popular that "even a chatting team of 14 people might be just too few." It's less suitable for a small fan-base used to "very personalized chatting" and more likely to sound suspicious.
He said human chatters still outperform AI when catering to subscribers with erotic niches - such as submission and domination.
Also employing AI is Botly, an Australian company founded in 2023. It charges $15 a month for software that analyzes a subscriber's questions and chat history to generate a response in the OnlyFans messaging box, which a creator or chatter can then edit or send. Botly says the technology is used in more than 100,000 chats per month, and its clients are mostly management agencies and some individual creators.
"What we are focusing on is making this as conversationally relevant as possible so people can seek companionship through these creators, even though it is an AI talking for them," Kyle Hartley, Botly's founder, said in an interview.
Hartley said his software bypasses OnlyFans' bot ban because a human still must manually send the AI-generated messages. Jaris of NEO Agency said FlirtFlow can compose and send messages without human help or detection by OnlyFans.
For a monthly subscription of between $4.99 and $50, OnlyFans offers an opportunity to interact with porn creators and get not just sexual gratification but also emotional connection and even intimacy. But the deceptive use of chatters impersonating models on the site is under increasing scrutiny, a Reuters investigation found.
(Marshall reported from London, Szep and So from Washington. Editing by Julie Marquis)
