Justin Bieber’s intimate photo leaked! AI influencers take over the Coachella music festival, and it’s hard to tell what’s real—raising concerns

Recently, multiple AI virtual influencers have posted on social media claiming to “attend” the world’s most talked-about Coachella music festival, and even shared intimate photos with the famous singer Justin Bieber (Justin Bieber). However, the platform has not labeled the content as AI-generated, raising concerns about accountability and responsibility for disclosure.

Coachella becomes the new battleground for AI influencers

The 2026 Coachella music festival officially opens this Friday in California. Each year, it draws large numbers of creators to the venue to celebrate. However this year, many virtual influencers generated by AI tools have also been found posting large amounts of “live photos” on Instagram. Wearing flashy outfits, standing side by side with celebrities in the frame, they are even difficult to distinguish from real audiences.

Attending events in disguise is nothing new, but the rapid advancement of generative AI has greatly lowered the threshold for “synthetic attendance,” and the difficulty of identification has risen just as fast. Many accounts briefly mention the term “digital creator (digital creator)” in their bios, deliberately blurring their AI nature; however, more often, they present themselves as real influencers, running AI accounts without any disclosure.

(Holoworld partners with aww.inc to create the first on-chain virtual influencer Mirai: limited-time coin launch, 48-hour presale surges in popularity)

A roundup of AI influencer cases: from small-scale KOLs to international superstars

In its report, The Verge lists many cases; the following breaks them down one by one.

Ammarathegoat

First is Ammarathegoat, which has 170k followers on Instagram. The account bio discloses no AI information, but the account holder keeps posting content that appears to be AI-generated. In the photos, the person appears side by side with Justin Bieber and members of the Kardashian family. The background clearly shows the Coachella stage scenes, yet the Meta platform also has not labeled AI tags on the posts.

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A post shared by Amara (@ammarathegoat)

Grannyspills

Grannyspills, with more than 2 million followers, is produced by Higgsfield AI. The bio does mention it, but each post lacks clear disclosure. In its latest photo, Grannyspills is seen being lifted up by Justin Bieber in his arms; the playful, blurred atmosphere makes it hard to tell what’s real and what’s not.

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A post shared by Granny Spills (@grannyspills)

imma

On the other hand, the author would like to add information about imma from Japan. As a virtual model launched in 2018 by the Tokyo virtual human company Aww Inc. and known as Asia’s first virtual model, imma is widely recognized for its symbolic bubblegum-pink short hair look. The imma has collaborated with brands spanning international names such as Porsche, IKEA, Dior, and Nike, and it appears across major fashion events and performance venues. Unlike other AI accounts, imma consistently and clearly labels its AI identity, symbolizing a rare transparency-oriented operating model in this field.

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A post shared by imma (@imma.gram)

The platform’s disclosure mechanism is effectively a facade—viewers can’t tell what’s real

At the core of the current issue is not only the existence of AI influencers, but the serious shortcomings in the platforms’ disclosure mechanisms. Meta’s AI label feature is buried behind three levels of menus in the mobile app, while the desktop version offers almost no way to view it. Moreover, the meaning of the label “digital creator” is vague and cannot sufficiently communicate to users that “this account is AI-generated.”

This phenomenon also triggers deeper concerns. According to a survey, 43.8% of marketers are already worried about the transparency of AI influencers—especially under high-intensity brand exposure in festival marketing.

With brand interests driving the trend, AI influencers may be hard to stop

From a business perspective, the expansion of AI influencers at Coachella follows a clear logic of self-interest. After all, the event organizers may spend tens of millions of dollars on influencer collaboration invitations. By comparison, the cost of generating virtual characters is far lower, and it is not constrained by real-world limitations such as time zones, physical stamina, travel schedules, and so on.

Today, some AI synthetic creators have already built up a sizable follower base. What the general audience is losing is not only the ability to distinguish, but also basic trust in what they see and hear. However, in the foreseeable future, this trend will likely continue to grow as commercial interests keep expanding.

This article: Intimate photo with Justin Bieber revealed! AI influencers take over the Coachella music festival—real or fake is hard to tell, sparking worry—first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.