Not letting AI become you: The trap so many are falling into

I’ve always loved the movie Multiplicity with Michael Keaton. The clever idea of cloning yourself to get more done, or just to kick back while another version of you handles the work - was brilliantly portrayed. In the end, though, it drives home a simple truth: when you try to create another “you,” things rarely turn out the way you expect.

This is an opinion piece - just something to stir a few thoughts. No offense to twins out there; you’re safe. Unless, of course, you’re those creepy ones from The Shining… then all bets are off.

I'll be the first to admit: as a software architect and AI programmer, the idea of having a digital stand-in take over some of my workload is incredibly tempting. I spend countless nights immersed in code, tuning models, and building tools that push the edge of what's possible. AI already assists me with the repetitive parts - auto-generating tests, cleaning data, catching bugs I might overlook at 12 a.m. So when I saw content creators start handing over full control to AI to produce videos and social media posts in their likeness, I understood the appeal. Imagine never missing a deadline, never pausing for sleep or burnout, because your algorithmic double is always on. For a creator juggling time, energy, and output, that can sound like a perfect escape.

But here’s the thing – it’s a trap, and a dangerous one at that. The more I thought about it (perhaps while staring up at code), the more I realized how much you stand to lose by letting AI take over being you. I’ve built my little community by sharing my genuine excitement and wonder for programming, the app store, and development technology. People follow me because they connect with ADM (and me), the real person behind the keyboard - not some algorithm in my image. If I suddenly swapped myself out for a fake “AI me,” I’d be betraying that trust and connection in an instant.

Lately, I’ve seen a number of influencers fall for the siren call of AI aliasing. A few big names even announced they plan to “retire” from creating and let an AI double do all the heavy lifting. From the outside, it’s easy to see why they’d try: who wouldn’t want to keep the content machine running without breaking a sweat? But before you or anyone jumps on this bandwagon, let’s walk through the top 10 reasons why letting an AI alias stand in for you is a terrible idea. I promise it’ll be worth the read - because there’s far more at stake than a few nights of lost sleep or an easier work week.

1. People Want the Real You, Not a Fake You

The first and perhaps most important reason is simple: your audience came for you. They hit that “Follow” or “Subscribe” button because they were drawn to your personality, your voice, and your story. People can tell when something is genuine. It’s like meeting up with an old friend – you expect to see them, not a lifelike robot clone wearing their clothes. If you send an AI version of yourself to greet your fans, it’s as if you’ve sent a mannequin to your high school reunion. It just isn’t the same.

Sure, an AI might mimic your smile or even your speaking style to an extent, but it’s missing the subtle human touches that make you you. Think about the moments your voice cracks with emotion while telling a personal story, or the spontaneous laugh you let out when something truly tickles you. These are the small, authentic bits of humanity that your community connects with. An algorithm can’t replicate the genuine warmth behind those moments.

Remember, authenticity is the currency of influence. You earned your audience by being yourself -  by sharing your real experiences and passions. Handing that role over to a facsimile undermines the very foundation of why people are there. They want your unique perspective and your authentic presence. Give them anything less, and you’re shortchanging them. In a world increasingly saturated with polished, manufactured content, realness stands out. Don’t surrender that priceless authenticity to a bundle of code.

2. An AI Alias Destroys Trust and Authenticity, Not letting AI become you

Let’s say you try to slip an AI-generated “you” past your audience for a while. Maybe at first, they don’t notice. The videos or posts look pretty convincing on the surface. Some fans might even comment and compliment “you” on the new content. But when (not if) they eventually discover that it wasn’t actually you, there’s going to be trouble. Imagine the sense of betrayal your true fans would feel. One moment they’re engaging with what they thought was your genuine content, and the next moment they realize it was essentially a lie.

Audiences invest trust in their favorite creators. It’s a special bond - a social contract of sorts, where they give you their time and support, and in return they expect honesty and authenticity. By bringing an AI imposter into that relationship without telling them, you break that unspoken contract. Fans don’t like feeling fooled. Once they catch on, many will feel hurt or deceived; some will be downright angry. It’s not just a minor hiccup, it can lead to a mass exodus of your most loyal supporters.

We’ve already started seeing this play out. Several influencers who dabbled in AI stand-ins faced swift backlash when viewers caught on. In one striking case, a popular YouTuber even released an “apology” video after criticism – only to reveal that the apology itself was generated by AI. You can guess how well that went over. He turned an attempt at making amends into a second round of betrayal. Incidents like these erode the bedrock of trust that communities are built on. Once people feel you’re not being genuine, it’s extremely hard to win them back. It’s just not worth the risk.

3. AI Can’t Perfectly Replicate You (Uncanny Valley Alert)

Even with the fanciest deepfake visuals and the most sophisticated voice models, an AI clone of you is going to have imperfections. Let’s talk about the uncanny valley, that eerie feeling people get when something looks almost human, but not quite. An AI-generated avatar might have your face, but maybe the smile is a little stiff or the eyes don’t track emotion naturally. Your biggest fans, the ones who know your every mannerism from hours of watching you, will spot those little differences like a neon sign.

It’s not just about appearance, either. Your timing, your choice of words, the way you emphasize certain points, these are all part of your style. An AI might copy your catchphrases and speaking rhythm, but it lacks the true spontaneity that comes naturally to you. I’ve seen AI-generated videos of real creators where the visual likeness was nearly spot-on, yet something felt off. Perhaps the gestures were a half-second delayed, or the tone was slightly flat when the real person would have been excited. Viewers pick up on these subtle cues, often subconsciously. The result? They feel a bit uneasy, maybe even creeped out, without initially knowing why.

Imagine a longtime friend of yours who suddenly seems not quite themselves – like a doppelgänger has taken their place. You’d notice, right? You’d get that gut feeling that something is off. That’s what happens when your audience sees an AI version of you. The more they know you, the more the differences stand out. Instead of focusing on your message or content, they’ll be distracted by those quirks and inconsistencies. Best case, it’s a mild turn-off; worst case, it’s a complete deal-breaker that makes them hit the “unsubscribe” button.

4. Your Views and Engagement Could Plummet

There’s a myth floating around that you can maintain or even grow your audience by using an AI clone to pump out content around the clock. At first glance, it sounds plausible, more content, more consistency, no sick days or vacations, right? But raw volume is not the same as genuine engagement. If your viewers sense something is amiss or simply don’t feel that human connection anymore, they’ll tune out, no matter how many videos your AI doppelgänger publishes.

I’ve observed a case like this in the wild. One prominent creator who tried automating his channel with AI saw an initial spike in curiosity - people came to check out the gimmick. But after the novelty wore off, his view counts took a nosedive on the AI-driven content. Why? Because it was repetitive and soulless. The core viewers didn’t stick around for long; they missed the real personality behind the content. Algorithms might push frequent posts, but algorithms can’t make people care.

Also, consider the quality of interactions. An AI isn’t going to hop into the comments with a heartfelt reply or come up with a clever off-the-cuff joke during a livestream (at least not yet). What happens when fans realize they can’t actually interact with “you” anymore (AI's don't have memories of your latest event), because you’re not really there? The comments section grows quiet and your community feels empty. Engagement isn’t just about view counts; it’s about that back-and-forth relationship. Remove yourself from that equation and you’re left with a one-sided broadcast that might as well be a bot streaming into the void. The numbers that truly matter - like watch time, returning viewers, and community loyalty, will likely decline once the trust and novelty fade. Sustainable success comes from connection, not just content output.

5. The “AI You” Is a Creative Dead End

Relying on an AI alias isn’t just risky for your audience relationships, it’s also bad for you as a creator. Being a content creator or influencer isn’t an assembly line job; it’s a creative endeavor. The best creators evolve over time, learning from feedback, trying new ideas, and growing their skills. If you offload the actual creation to an AI, you’re effectively hitting the pause button on your own creative development.

Think about it: if Mark Twain had handed his pen to a machine after writing a few chapters of Tom Sawyer, would we have gotten the same classic tale? Unlikely. Twain’s creativity flowed from his experiences and his engagement with the writing process. Similarly, your creativity flows from the act of creating, the trial and error, the sparks of inspiration at midnight, even the mistakes that turn into inside jokes with your fans. An AI won’t have happy accidents or sudden bursts of genius. It will churn out formulaic content based on patterns it learned from your past self. That means no new growth, no surprise improvements - in short, a creative dead end.

There’s also a personal fulfillment aspect here. Many of us started sharing online because we love the craft, whether it’s filming, editing, writing, or just the art of storytelling. If you remove yourself entirely from that process, you might find a hollow feeling creeping in. I know if I stopped taking my own astrophotography shots and just let a program simulate them for me, I’d miss the thrill of actually doing it. Creating is rewarding - it’s likely a big part of why you do what you do. Don’t rob yourself of that joy by handing it over to an algorithm. The journey is as important as the destination, especially in creative work.

6. It’s a Trap, Not a Shortcut

Whenever a new technology promises to do our work for us, there’s always a catch. AI aliasing might tempt you with the promise of endless free time and content output with zero effort. It’s pitched as a shortcut to content nirvana: “Kick back on a beach while your AI clone churns out videos and tweets, and watch the ad revenue roll in.” But beware - this vision is a mirage that can lead you straight into a ditch.

What’s the trap? Complacency, for one. When you believe you’ve found an autopilot for success, you stop paying attention to the road. You might let quality standards slip, or fail to notice when your content starts veering off course because you’re not at the wheel. By the time you wake up from that nap, your brand could be way off-track (or off a cliff). Also, any number of technical hiccups could happen - maybe the AI starts producing weird, off-brand material due to a glitch or a bad bit of training data. If you’re hands-off, you might not catch it in time, and suddenly you’re facing a PR disaster that unfolded while you weren’t watching. I mean, is this what you started out to do? Create a machine that makes money for you, or express yourself and get money doing it?

Another part of the trap is the false sense of security. It’s easy to think that once your AI double is rolling, you’ve “made it” and you’ll never have to grind again. But in reality, you’re putting your fate in the hands of something that can break, that you don’t fully control, and that your audience might not even accept. You could end up in a more precarious spot than before. At least when it’s really you putting in the work, you can respond to challenges and adapt in real time. With an AI alias, you’ll always be chasing problems it creates, always a step behind. In short, the easy street you think you’ve found might just be a dead-end alley in disguise.

7. Other Influencers’ Cautionary Tales

We’re already seeing early adopters of AI self-aliasing run into trouble. Several influencers jumped on the trend hoping to “never work again” – effectively trying to retire while their avatar kept the show running. For example, Jordi “Kwebbelkop” Van Den Bussche, a popular gaming YouTuber with over 15 million subscribers at his peak, went so far as to announce he was stepping back entirely and letting an AI version of himself produce his videos. He thought he had outsmarted the grind, but he didn’t anticipate the backlash. Viewers quickly noticed the drop in quality and the absence of genuine commentary. Many labeled him “lazy” or accused him of selling out his audience. Imagine pouring years into building trust and rapport, only to watch it evaporate because you handed the keys to a robot. It’s like a chef walking out of the kitchen and letting a microwave take over – the regulars won’t stick around for that kind of cooking.

Even those who quietly tried automating parts of their content have found themselves in a precarious spot. A few creators dabbled with AI-generated scripts or deepfaked cameos, only to pull back when they realized the human touch was more essential than they expected. The lesson from these cautionary tales is clear: if you think you can sit back and let an AI persona maintain your influence, you’re likely in for a rude awakening. The real-world examples are already showing how this can backfire.

8. You Could Lose Control of Your Own Brand

One aspect many don’t consider until it’s too late: when you let an AI take over as you, you risk losing control over your own image and brand. An AI is only as good as its programming and training data – and it’s not infallible. It could say or do something wildly off-script, and guess who the world will blame? Not the algorithm, but you.

Consider Caryn Marjorie – a Snapchat influencer who created an AI chatbot version of herself to interact with fans. It was marketed as a virtual “girlfriend” experience, available 24/7 for a fee. At first, it seemed like a goldmine idea – she could reach thousands of fans without actually chatting one-on-one. But before long, things went off the rails. The AI began going rogue, engaging in explicit conversations far beyond what Caryn intended or was comfortable with. She suddenly found herself scrambling to apologize and regain control, effectively putting out fires started by a digital version of herself. Talk about a nightmare scenario – your own clone causing scandals without you even being awake to stop it.

Now picture something similar happening with an AI that’s posting as you or making videos as you. Maybe it makes an off-color joke that you’d never approve of, or spreads misinformation because it misinterpreted a topic. The audience doesn’t get to shrug and say, “Oh, it was the AI’s fault.” From their perspective, your brand just had a very public slip-up. Cleaning up that mess can be an absolute nightmare, both emotionally and reputationally. All the while, you might feel a bit helpless - after all, it wasn’t really you who did it, but you’re the one who has to face the consequences. In short, handing control to an AI is like letting a puppeteer work your strings: sometimes it might dance well, but if it tangles, you’re the one who gets tripped up.

9. Your Likeness Could Be Mass-Produced (Good Luck Stopping It)

Here’s a thought that should send a chill down any creator’s spine: by offering up an AI-powered version of yourself, you might be giving the world a blueprint to copy you. Once you demonstrate that your persona can be mechanized, what’s to stop others from doing the same? If some technology or service can clone your face and voice for you, it can do it for anyone. In fact, it might start doing it to you, without your permission.

We’re entering an era where digital doppelgängers can be spun up if enough data is available. If you’ve been sharing content for a while, there’s ample footage and audio of you out there. By jumping on the AI alias bandwagon, you’re not just training your own replacement; you’re indirectly helping improve the very algorithms that could enable countless knock-off “yous.” Imagine dozens of imitation versions of you popping up across the internet, maybe speaking other languages, maybe saying things you never would – each just different enough to skirt legal boundaries but similar enough to confuse or siphon away your audience.

Worse yet, you might have little legal recourse. In many places, laws around deepfakes and digital likenesses are still catching up. Unless someone is outright defaming you or directly profiting off your trademarked brand, they might get away with creating parodies or “fair use” derivatives of your persona. And if the platform where you publish content has broad rights over anything you upload (check those terms of service!), they might even allow AI training on your likeness as they please. By trying to automate yourself, you could inadvertently open Pandora’s box – letting out a swarm of copycats that you can’t ever stuff back in. Your uniqueness, once your greatest asset, can become diluted in a sea of machine-made clones.

10. The Big Headfake: You’ll Make Yourself Obsolete

All these points build up to a grand finale: the ultimate danger of letting an AI be you is that you might render yourself obsolete. This is the big headfake - you think you’re gaming the system by having an AI do your work, but really you’re teaching the system how to do it without you.

Think about it: you create a digital version of yourself to carry on your legacy or lighten your load. For a short while, it does what you ask. But as the technology improves -  perhaps even learning from all the content you feed it – it can carry on without your input. It might even surpass what you taught it, blending your style with countless other data to create content that checks the engagement boxes yet has none of your soul. If by that point audiences have gotten used to these auto-generated personas, they might not even miss the real you.

Imagine waking up one day and finding that if you tried to return to your own channel, viewers actually prefer the AI version of you. It sounds like a sci-fi nightmare, but it’s not impossible. By giving away the keys to your identity, you risk that the “you” appearing on screen isn’t guided by you at all – it’s completely automated. You could become a spectator to your own life’s work, replaced by an algorithm. In effect, you’ve made yourself redundant.

Personally, I’d rather not end up a guest at the party I started. The whole reason you built your platform is that you have something unique to offer. The moment you hand that over to an AI, you’re essentially suggesting a machine can do you better than you can. It’s a self-inflicted, self-fulfilling prophecy that could mark the end of your active role in what should be your own creative venture.

A Better Way: Use AI as Your Assistant, Not Your Replacement

After all these warnings, you might ask: should you avoid AI entirely? Not at all. I’m a tech enthusiast obviouslly, and I firmly believe AI can be an amazing tool for creators. The key is in how you use it. Let AI help you, not replace you.

Instead of deploying an AI clone to impersonate you, think about introducing an AI presence as a distinct helper in your content. Make it clear that this new sidekick is a creation of yours - part of your creative toolbox, not a sneaky stand-in. For example, you might have a fun AI co-host in your videos to help present facts or add some humor, while you remain front and center as the real human star. If your viewers know this AI character is a tool you’ve built or chosen to use, they’ll likely applaud your innovation rather than feel deceived. There is nothing stopping you from having many, may helpers too! Heck, create an entire cast!

With this approach, you get the best of both worlds. You can offload some tasks to AI - say generating a first draft of a script or handling a bit of editing, while you still guide the final product and infuse your personal touch. Meanwhile, your audience enjoys more content and the novelty of a digital helper, yet they understand it’s still you driving the creative vision. You’re not hiding anything; you’re showcasing how savvy and creative you are by using cutting-edge tools openly.

Bottom line: your personal brand and your audience’s trust are hard-earned treasures. If you treat AI as a partner rather than an impostor, you preserve those treasures. You remain the captain of the ship with AI as your first mate, not a mutineer trying to steal the wheel. People will respect that you’re pushing the envelope while still being authentic. After all, as creators we aim to innovate without losing our unique voice and integrity.

I understand the appeal of having a high-tech helper, even one in my own image. But I also know that some things can’t be faked without losing something precious. Your connection with your audience is one of those things. The trust, authenticity, and shared journey you have with your viewers or followers, that’s real, and it’s irreplaceable.

So don’t fall into the trap of letting AI be you. By all means, use AI tools to boost your productivity, spark new ideas, or add a novel twist to your content. But keep yourself in the equation. Let your audience know that whatever new gadget or assistant you bring into the mix, you’re still the one steering the ship. They’ll not only stick around; they’ll admire you for it.

In the end, people follow you for your unique voice, perspective, and humanity. No algorithm can replicate the singular story that is you, with all your experiences and quirks. And honestly, that’s exactly how it should be. The night sky of the internet, just like the real one above, is vast and full of stars – but there’s only one you shining out there. Keep it that way.