How a teenager was duped by an AI bot on InstagramAn American teen has revealed how an AI account fooled her into believing she was interacting with a real person.Hannah Wilcox2 min readDecember 22, 2025 - 9:46PMA teenager has revealed the moment she realised one of her followers on Instagram was actually AI.Lilly Davis, from Texas, took to TikTok to share her thoughts upon realising the account, which she’d had conversations with before, was actually not a real person.“About a month ago this girl followed me on Instagram … and I followed back,” the 19-year-old said in a video.“One day I posted on my notes on Instagram, ‘I need a f***ing cigarette’, and then she put on her notes … ‘Lilly’s right’ or something like ‘Lilly spits facts’.”Ms Davis said she responded to the account’s post, thanking her for making her feel “special”, to which the account responded back: “You’re always special”.The teenager then commented on a recent video of a girl posted by the account, calling her gorgeous.“(The account) replied to my comment being like ‘not as gorgeous as you’, and then someone replied to my comment saying her account is AI,” Ms Davis added.“I was with my best friend and I was like, ooh … am I f***ing stupid?”The teenager said she showed her best friend the account, who then confirmed that it wasn’t a real person.“I went through her whole account and I was like, oh my God, I’ve been f***ing bamboozled,” Ms Davis said, adding when she went back and checked the comment thread the comment revealing the account was AI had been deleted.Lilly Davis took to TikTok to share her shock. Picture: TikTok / lov3r_lillyShe had exchanged messages with the account. Picture: Instagram / lov3r_lillyMany social media users were in disbelief at how AI is able to mimic people’s accounts so well.“How is that possible?,” one said.“Oh this would creep me out omg,” another added.A third said: “The fact that AI has advanced so hard that it can just fake being a person we can follow and develop “acquaintance” with on social media is SO dystopian like we are gonna be living a sci-fi nightmare really quick.”“In the future we’re gonna start telling our kids “don’t talk to people online they might be AI” instead of “an old man”,” a fourth wrote.In January, Instagram’s parent company Meta revealed AI-generated user accounts are flooding the platform in hopes of attracting a younger audience.In January this year, Meta revealed AI-generated user accounts are flooding the platform. Picture: NewsWire / Dylan RobinsonMeta’s rules state that AI-generated content should be labelled as such, as it rolled out tools such as those allowing users to create their own AI characters and chatbots.Connor Hayes, vice president of product for generative AI at Meta, told the Financial Times hundreds of thousands of characters have already been created using Meta’s AI character tool, which launched last July in the US.Most users, he added, are keeping their creations private.More CoverageUni students rage over new mascotCassidy PearceFears Australia’s $30m AI plan could failJoseph Olbrycht-PalmerThe rollout is a “priority” of Meta’s, to keep the apps “more entertaining and engaging”.“We expect these AIs to actually, over time, exist on our platforms, kind of in the same way that accounts do,” he said.“They’ll have bios and profile pictures and be able to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform … that’s where we see all of this going.”More related storiesMobile PhonesExperts reveal the best phones you can buy in 2025We have folding phones, ones with incredible cameras, some with truly innovative artificial intelligence and yes, they can all make and receive phone calls. So what you should buy?Read moreMilitaryUS pursues third oil tanker in CaribbeanThe US Coast Guard is pursuing an allegedly sanctioned oil tanker, a day after it seized its second vessel off Venezuela in two weeks.Read moreSustainabilityHuge move amid energy cost crisisIn a bid to combat climbing energy costs, the Albanese government has taken a major step to give Australians “first rights to what’s under Australian soil”.Read more