An account under the name “Jessica Foster,” claiming to be a blonde female officer or soldier in the U.S. military, gained more than 1 million followers on Instagram in just four months. On the first day of the war against Iran, her photos walking alongside U.S. President Donald Trump on an airport runway went widely viral on social media.
Similarly, images of the blonde woman in military uniform posing with an F-22 Raptor fighter jet, as well as with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, received thousands of likes.
Nothing but an illusion
However, the real shock came when it was revealed that Foster was nothing more than an illusion—a fictional character created using artificial intelligence (AI). There is no public record of her military service. Although the account did not carry an AI label, there were several signs indicating that it was not real.
In this regard, Sam Gregory, Executive Director of Witness, an organization that analyzes fake videos, told The Washington Post that Foster’s case highlights how misleading modern AI tools can be.
He pointed out that it has now become very easy to create fictional personalities that appear consistent across different images and videos and can be shown alongside real public figures in a way that makes them seem present at the center of real events. According to him, creators of such fake personas link them to ongoing events to gain visibility and followers online, and later redirect those followers to paid websites where users are charged for more sensational content.
U.S. military response
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the U.S. military confirmed that authorities found no record of Foster. According to a Meta spokesperson, Instagram deleted the account last Thursday for violating its policies.
It is worth noting that Foster’s first posted video appeared on Thanksgiving, showing the blue-eyed woman sitting beneath the American flag. Since then, more than 50 photos and videos had been posted, depicting her meeting Melania Trump, the Ukrainian president, the Russian president, and football star Lionel Messi.
In recent times, several similar accounts have emerged in which AI-generated women portray themselves as pro-Trump soldiers, truck drivers, or police officers, successfully gaining large followings on TikTok, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter). According to the BBC, a similar trend has also been observed outside the United States, where hundreds of AI-generated videos of Iranian women soldiers and pilots have gone viral, appearing to promote the Iranian military.