She has a huge following.
The world of online influencers can often be deceptive and common netizens have learned it over time. Now, there seems to be a general acceptance for the fact that every popular online persona is fine-tuning and altering their photos and videos to appeal to the conventional beauty standards. But one particular “influencer” has taken it to such a level that many are left wondering if she is simply trolling.
The “influencer” in question is Chae Ah, a self-proclaimed fashion model with over 110,000 followers on Instagram alone. It is unclear where she is based, as her profile bio is written in Mandarin, while most of her posts have Korean captions almost exclusively.
The photos posted on Chae Ah’s account give the term “uncanny valley” a whole new dimension. Her features are always exaggerated to the point of looking like a caricature. No two photo features the same kind of face, but the editing style is similar— comically thin nose, an unrealistically sharp jaw, enlarged ears, and an impossibly thin body structure.
Even in the case of photos featuring multiple people, the account edits all the faces with the same comical exaggeration.
A recent post about Chae Ah went viral on Instiz, sparking intense intrigue and concern. Some even compared the photos on the account with the characters of a popular horror webtoon, Tales of the Unusual.
- “Isn’t this her concept? It has to be.”
- “It feels like a social experiment.”
- “This is like something out of Tales of the Unusual.”
- “Is this AI?”
- “Is this a concept or not?”
- “I think it’s art.”
The speculation that these photos might be AI-generated might not be groundless, since some of the recent photos show clear signs of being so. The low engagement on every post, despite her huge following, also points toward the possibility of them being mostly bot accounts.
What do you think?
