‘This was not me’: Woman shocked upon realizing AI had apparently been replying to her TikTok messages without her knowledge

Not everyone is willing to embrace AI, but like it or not, the technology seems to be slowly creeping into everyday life more and more. It started with people being fooled by generative AI videos, but now it’s gone a step further, as a woman on TikTok has claimed she had an entire conversation with a friend, only to find out it had been a chatbot the whole time. The worst part was that the friend apparently wasn’t even aware that this conversation was taking place.

According to a viral TikTok posted by “dbjtmusic” AI might be replying for you without you even being aware. The fear over AI impersonations comes from another TikTok creator by the name of “Sirius Healing VA,” (AKA Jessica) who claimed that she had been messaging a fellow TikToker, “Grey,” the night before. 

The message screenshots show a lengthy conversation with Grey, as she and Jessica discuss the health concerns with taking melatonin. Grey even tells Jessica she’ll check in with her doctor. However, the next day, she checked the messages to find something rather worrying.

“What the f— is this AI messenger lol,” a screenshot of the message reads. “This was not me messaging you I hate this. How do I turn this off?” It turns out the entire conversation was allegedly an AI impersonating Grey. 

Jessica admits she had suspected that something was off with the messages she had received, claiming that “they were responding too quickly”; however, the claim that it was AI impersonating the other woman seemingly came as a shock to both of them.

People on TikTok are disturbed

The whole situation has caused concern amongst people on the app; the thought of AI impersonating them without their knowledge or consent is a rather dystopian one. “Can we please stop this sort of bs where it is just starting to replace anything human?” One commenter asked, “It is actually insane how little AI is being regulated.”

A few questioned whether it was even legal, while others wondered if it was possible for “AI [to] speak for you and incriminate you without you doing a crime?” While it may seem far-fetched, these comments demonstrate the fears some people hold towards AI, especially in situations like this, when it’s allegedly ignored the user’s consent.

People soon found the setting that was suspected to have been responsible for the AI messages. Grey may have had the “Professional – engage followers” setting enabled. Luckily, it can be disabled by switching it to “Personal – chat with friends.” However, many were still angry with TikTok for “Hiding an entire ai bot that impersonates you,” deep in the settings.