AI lady
207 paying subscribers in week one. Not a single penny spent on advertising. AI is rewriting the rules of the creator economy — and platforms are quietly letting it happen. X/ @Bober_smart

A 47-year-old man from Japan claims he earned $13,450 (£10,150) in a single month by creating an AI-generated woman and selling subscriptions to her profiles on OnlyFans and Fanvue. His only reported cost was a $20 (£15) monthly Claude subscription.

The account, shared by @Bober_smart on X, lays out a lean operation built almost entirely on free tools and a single AI subscription. Claude, Anthropic's chatbot, allegedly handled everything — creating the persona's visuals, working with each platform's algorithms, posting content on a set schedule and running autonomously. The man organised the entire workflow across 10 folders containing tools for content creation and automation.

His marketing budget was zero.

He created a TikTok account for the AI persona that pulled in 1.2 million views and 4,678 followers inside seven days. A separate Reddit account featured her photos and short videos. Both platforms were free to use. Men discovered the content, followed the links and subscribed to her OnlyFans and Fanvue pages. No paid advertising was involved.

207 Paying Subscribers in the First Week

The results in week one were substantial. The OnlyFans page gained 143 subscriptions. Fanvue added 64 more. At $9.90 (£7.50) per subscription, the post claims first-week revenue of roughly $2,700 (£2,040).

By month's end, the total reached $13,450.

OnlyFans
Ai girl created using Claude helped man generate thousands of dollars in a month.

OnlyFans takes a standard 20 per cent commission on all creator earnings. Fanvue charges 15 per cent during a creator's first 12 months, rising to 20 per cent thereafter. Even applying the higher cut across the full amount, the man would have retained at least $10,760 (£8,120) after platform fees and his $20 Claude subscription. On a $20 outlay, that represents a return north of 53,000 per cent.

For context, the average OnlyFans creator earns roughly $1,300 (£980) per year, according to platform data. The global creator economy crossed $250 billion (£189 billion) in 2025, per Goldman Sachs estimates, but the overwhelming majority of that revenue sits with top-tier earners. An anonymous operator spending $20 a month and netting five figures would represent an extraordinary outlier — if the numbers are real.

Third Viral AI Creator Earnings Claim This Year

The post follows a pattern. In early May, X user @andreysuperior alleged a 21-year-old student in Austin, Texas, built a fictional OnlyFans persona named Maya using a $400 (£302) MacBook and Claude Code, reportedly earning $43,000 (£32,500) in 30 days.

Separately, The AI Journal published details of an anonymous operator who built a lifestyle AI influencer for $77 (£58) a month in combined subscriptions and was generating $14,500 (£10,950) within 90 days.

None of these earnings claims have been independently audited.

OnlyFans requires all creators to submit government-issued identification, proof of address and a selfie before they can monetise content. How a fully AI-generated persona passes those checks has not been addressed in any of the three cases.

Fanvue has been more openly receptive to AI creators. CEO Will Monange told Fortune that the platform views virtual personas as a natural expansion of the creator economy. 'If someone's able to have a persona that they can leverage to get involved in the creator economy without having to be the person in front of the camera, we took a bet on the fact that that would likely open up to a lot of people who currently aren't involved,' Monange said.

AI creators accounted for 15 per cent of Fanvue's total revenue as of late 2023, the publication noted, with one AI model generating $23,000 (£17,370) in a single month.

For anyone weighing the opportunity, the legal and reputational risks remain largely untested. The UK's Online Safety Act places new obligations on platforms to police AI-generated content, and enforcement is expected to intensify through 2026. But the economics keep drawing attention. The barrier to entry has collapsed from hundreds of pounds in hardware to a single $20 (£15) monthly subscription—and, if the latest claim holds, a return that most conventional investments cannot come close to matching.

Disclaimer: Our digital media content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Please conduct your own analysis or seek professional guidance before investing. Remember, investments are subject to market risks, and past performance does not guarantee future results.

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