The Internet is all about “military beauties” — but Jessica Foster isn’t real

People are fascinated by a female service member named Jessica Foster, who has been seen wearing camouflage uniforms in a desert environment, posing with an F-22 Raptor, and even appearing alongside Donald Trump. People were fascinated by this woman, but the reality was different. Experts say there are no public records of Foster’s military service and the account, although not labeled as artificial intelligence, contains numerous signs that she is fake. Foster also prominently displayed her feet in many of her pro-Trump posts, The Washington Post reported.Foster’s viral spread highlights what researchers say is a growing tactic to win attention online, where right-wing accounts mix patriotism and soft-core pornography, using fake women and convincing images to attract viewers, make money and score political points.Accounts showing AI-generated women posing as pro-Trump soldiers, truck drivers and police officers have attracted huge audiences on TikTok, Instagram and X, with thousands of commenters posting responses indicating they believe the women are real.As first reported by the BBC, a similar situation has emerged outside the United States in recent weeks, with hundreds of AI-generated videos showing Iranian female soldiers and pilots cheering on the country’s military circulating online. One sign that they are fake is Iran’s ban on women in combat roles.Sam Gregory, executive director of Witness, a video advocacy group that studies deepfakes, said Foster provided an example of how deceptive AI video generators can be. He said advances in artificial intelligence have made it easier to create a consistent fake persona across multiple photos or videos and place that persona next to a real public figure to make it look like the persona was at the center of a real event.By applying political trappings and current events to the characters’ fake lives, their creators likely hoped to maximize virality and stand out online, Gregory said. Once creators gain traction, he said, they can, as in Foster’s case, direct users to premium platforms that ask them to pay for more explicit scenes.Foster is “the epitome of MAGA fantasy, everything in one channel, but it’s clearly artificial intelligence: the images have no provenance, no history around her, obvious glitches,” he said. “There are a lot of real and unreal beauties online, but having a woman so close to power, surrounding the big events of the day, has a different kind of cachet.”The person in charge of Foster’s account did not respond to a request for comment. After The Washington Post sought comment, the account posted a new photo on Wednesday showing Foster cruising aboard a warship in the Strait of Hormuz.An Army spokesman said officials found no records of Foster. The White House and Instagram owner Meta did not respond to requests for comment.The first video Foster posted on Thanksgiving showed the blue-eyed woman wearing a tight shirt sitting under an American flag, with a caption asking every “straight guy who likes female American soldiers” to comment.In this AI-generated image, the fictional Foster is seen with Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. (AI-generated image obtained by The Washington Post)In the AI-generated photo, Foster is seen with Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. (AI-generated image obtained by The Washington Post)In the months since, more than 50 photos and videos have emerged showing meetings with first lady Melania Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russian President Vladimir Putin and soccer star Lionel Messi. During this time, Foster would tell dirty jokes, give speeches, and have pillow fights with her fellow lesbians.“Best job in the world,” read the caption of a video last month that showed Foster wearing a helmet and tactical vest.The posts have been described as bizarre, with details in the images providing clues, including her combat uniform and insignia on her uniform that indicate confusion about her qualifications, indicating she is either a staff sergeant, a graduate of Ranger School or a one-star general.In one photo, she speaks at a “Border Peace Conference,” which has been described as a botched version of Trump’s new peace commission. In another photo, she holds captive former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, her uniform bearing her name where her last name should be.Thousands of users still post in her comments section. “I’m really shocked at how many people are following influencers who are clearly artificial intelligence,” Justine Moore, an investor at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, said of Foster in an X post.Foster’s post received more than 100,000 comments, many from accounts that included men in their profile photos. Some users called her an artificial intelligence, while many complimented her appearance, sent her heart-eyes emojis or cheered her on.A Brazilian traffic officer’s verified Instagram account liked most of her photos and told Foster she was “Linda,” that is, beautiful. Another user asked: “Why do you never reply?” The accounts did not respond to requests for comment.Foster’s Instagram, which includes galleries titled “training,” “US,” and “dailyarmy,” was originally linked to an account on OnlyFans, a subscription marketplace popular with porn creators. A spokesperson for OnlyFans said the account was removed for violating rules requiring all creators to have verified adult status.In the AI-generated image, Foster appears in Greenland with two other fake soldiers. (AI-generated image obtained by The Washington Post)Foster later linked viewers to an account on Fanvue, a smaller OnlyFans competitor that allows AI models and labels them as “generated or enhanced.”Her account there, “jessicanextdoor,” lists her location as Fort Bragg, a military base in North Carolina that is home to Army Special Operations Command, and describes Foster as “a public servant by day and a troublemaker by night?”The report describes this approach as a sales funnel technique that influencers use to convert free viewers into paying customers for more explicit content. Fanvue declined to disclose information about the account, which invites viewers to subscribe for “special content.”“By the way, I reply to every message, but please bear with me because I’m not a robot,” the account said with a winking emoji. Within days of being created, the account received over 10,000 likes.Online deception does not require artificial intelligence, the report says. It cited cases where photos of real women were taken and used to spread political messages they did not endorse, including a 2023 case of Trump supporters being twisted into left-wing “rage bait” accounts, and a 2024 case of European influencers being forced to appear as MAGA supporters.Joan Donovan, an assistant professor at Boston University who studies media manipulation, said artificial intelligence has helped such accounts proliferate because they are easy to create, infinitely customizable and offer a clear path to making money. The political gloss also helps ensure the images appear in people’s news feeds, she said.Donovan said the biggest risk is that the strategy could turn into information warfare, deploying anonymously run accounts as “bot armies” to spread propaganda, disinformation or wartime talking points at scale.“The danger with this is that we’re moving toward a society that’s not authentic,” Donovan said. “It was a way to send a political message, and it was effective. We don’t even know if selling pictures of feet was the ultimate form of Jessica Foster.”