AI Podcasters Really Want to Tell You How to Keep a Man Happy
“It’s soft propaganda,” says Mandii B, co-host of the sex and lifestyle podcast Decisions, Decisions. The videos and the rhetoric they spread focus on toxic gender tropes. “It subtly shapes beliefs and expectations without offering depth or accountability. It reminds me of the way the American dream was presented and sold for decades: a clean, repeatable narrative that didn’t necessarily reflect the messy and diverse realities people actually experienced. This content does something similar with relationships. It promotes digestible ideals without context, nuance, or accountability.”
However, actual dialogue is not the end goal of these accounts. Almost every page WIRED reviewed was a funnel to paid courses on AI influence. In addition to a Digital Business Starter Kit ($117) or a six-week Product Accelerator Crash Course ($147), the creator behind Ari Banks’ Avatar offers a $497 course plan called “AI Content University” where people learn how to “create viral AI podcasts and talking head content, master the Realism Formula™ (so your content doesn’t look like AI), and use lip-syncing + voice cloning to bring your content to life. It promises to “turn your content into revenue (not just views). »
AI with Lotti, the creator of the Luxe account, who claims to have grown her Facebook page to 100,000 followers and 12 million views in less than 30 days, is selling an “AI Luxe Academy” course for $84. And for $9.97, you can purchase Melissa Devine’s “300+ Quotes for Women Who Refuse to Settle Down” to help you define your AI podcaster identity.
“It’s essentially the same principle that governs successful influencer content: specificity and emotional resonance,” says Lily Comba, founder and CEO of influencer marketing agency Superbloom. “The difference is that AI executes this textbook at scale. But engagement without relationships underneath has a ceiling. Influencer marketing has learned this lesson the hard way, and I would expect AI creators to hit the same wall.”
Perhaps the biggest problem with these videos lies in their regularity. The AI field is now polluted with manipulated content that is either strangely bizarre, violent, sexy, or cartoonishly shocking – some people are still obsessed with those fruit videos – yet AI podcast clips largely adopt a normal tone. There’s nothing particularly extraordinary about the scenes other than the advice given. This is what makes them sneaky.
But the creators behind these flawless AI personas don’t seem to realize that the importance of podcasting—and perhaps the power of the medium—lies in human imperfection: conversations, opinions, and experiences that aren’t always carefully presented but shared with a kind of novel frankness.
Despite this, Mandii B understands why people are drawn to this style of artificial relationship content. “They’re looking for advice. When something seems confident, refined and widely accepted, it’s easy to trust.” She’s not worried that AI podcasters will replace her anytime soon. The popularity of these videos boils down to a larger issue that concerns society, she said. “People don’t like to think for themselves.”
