In posts on ManyVids, the porn platform\u2019s official account holds imaginary conversations with aliens, alongside AI-generated videos of UFOs, fractal images, \u201cangel numbers,\u201d and a video of its founder and CEO Bella French in a space suit shooting lasers from her eyes.\u00a0\u00a0French launched the site in 2014 as a former cam model herself, and the platform has millions of members and tens of thousands of creators. Adult content creators use it to sell custom videos and subscriptions, and perform live on camera. French recently changed her personal website to state her new goal is to \u201ctransition one million people out of the adult industry and do everything we can to ensure no one new enters it.\u201d The statement follows posts on X\u2019s ManyVids account about new strategies to pivot the site toward safe-for-work, non-sexual content.This sudden shift away from years of messaging about being a compatriot with sex workers, combined with bizarre AI-generated text and images about talking to aliens and numerology on social media, has made some creators worry for their livelihoods, and caused others to leave the site completely.For years, the official ManyVids social media accounts made mostly normal posts that promoted the site and its creators. But in mid-2025, the posts from the ManyVids X account changed. Instead of promotions of top creators, announcements of contests, and tips for using the platform, the account shifted its focus to existential and metaphysical musings. Around August, it started posting cryptic quotes, phrases, and images, many seemingly generated by or about AI.\u00a0The account also started replying to engagement-farming posts from influencers, writing things like \u201cOur purpose: to protect the feminine energy \u2014 so that balance may return,\u201d and posting borderline-nonsensical bullet-point lists about \u201cthe boldness scale\u201d and how ManyVids leadership is \u201call connected.\u201d\u00a0\u201cThe impact strength of a positive leader \u26a1 Effectiveness \u26a1 Execution \u26a1 Discipline \u26a1 Accountability,\u201d one post in August said. On August 20, @ManyVids posted an image on X of a flow chart alongside a screenshot of a ChatGPT conversation, seemingly illustrating how the platform would bring in users through a \u201csafe-for-work\u201d zone, then allow them to access NSFW content after verifying their identifications. \u201cOur vision: Adult Industry 2.0 isn\u2019t about more revenue. It\u2019s about evolution,\u201d the post said.\u00a0The replies to these posts show ManyVids creators expressing anger, concern, and bafflement. The account stopped posting on X in September. But on the ManyVids platform itself, which has a \u201cnews\u201d feed that functions similarly to a microblogging platform but is just for official platform posts, the odd entries continue.\ud83d\udca1Do you know anything else about what’s happening at ManyVids, or do you have a tip about porn platforms and online sex work generally? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at sam.404. Otherwise, send me an email at sam@404media.co.\u201cSocial API for the AI Age. Phase 1 \u2014 Pride Engine,\u201d one post from January 16 says:\u00a0\u201cThe High Universal Income (HUI) Engine is the distribution hub of the new economy, built for a world where AI does the work humans never wanted to do. AI generates surplus wealth, but humans need surplus purpose. Human meaning becomes the rarest and most valuable resource on Earth. Instead of opaque taxes, AI companies fund a Social License through platforms like ManyVids, converting AI efficiency into merit-based bonuses for human contribution. For every dollar earned through passion, creation, care, or learning, HUI adds 10%. This is not charity. It is a Pride Engine. We shift the foundation of human value.\u201dThe post ends with a six-second AI generated video that includes the phrase \u201cthe ultimate guide to rebuilding civilization.\u201d Most posts in recent weeks are like this: clearly AI generated text alongside six-second AI generated clips showing angels, chakras, or spiritual phrases. \u201cThe Simulation of Integrity. If we don\u2019t fully understand the ultimate nature of reality, what should guide how we live inside it?\u201d one recent post says. \u201cIf the nature of the \u2018game\u2019 is unknown, then how you treat others \u2014 and yourself \u2014 becomes the most meaningful data point.\u201d\u00a0And in a post right after the new year: \u201cHey everyone! Back-to-the-office Monday vibe. How were your holidays? Did you travel anywhere? I did… \ud83d\udd73\ufe0fNext time, I\u2019ll bring sunglasses. I came back with a few new ideas and fresh thoughts \u2728Let\u2019s get to work. Let\u2019s go, 2026! \ud83d\ude80\u201d Below the text: a video of French in a space suit, black hole in the background, shooting laser-lightning out of her eyes.<\/p>\n
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Screengrab via ManyVids
\n A lot of people who rely on ManyVids for income have noticed this odd behavior and are disturbed by it.\u00a0\u201cEthical dilemmas about AI aside, the posts are completely disconnected with ManyVids as a site,\u201d one ManyVids content creator told 404 Media, on the condition of anonymity. \u201cTheir customers and their creators are not served in any way by these. When faced with backlash, MV removed the ability to comment on posts. To anyone looking at them they appear to be ramblings and images generated by a person in active psychosis.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Screengrab via ManyVids
\n Almost every ManyVids creator 404 Media spoke to for this story brought up \u201cAI psychosis\u201d unprompted, when asked if they\u2019d seen the ManyVids posts.\u00a0\u201cI have seen them and I find them really insulting,\u201d Sydney Screams said. \u201cThe way I perceive the posts is that Bella and the MV team doesn’t respect their creators enough to spend time making their own content, instead taking the easy way out and using bizarre AI that doesn’t even relate. Why do we need Bella shooting laser beams out of her eyes to make an announcement? It’s infuriating because it’s like she doesn’t take us seriously, doesn’t take her own platform seriously, and we’re supposed to just be grateful for the crumbs she’s giving us. We deserve better,\u201d she said. \u201cWe deserve to be treated with respect, talked to like we’re adults, and listened to like our voices matter. Instead we get AI slop and posts that promise big things without any sort of follow through.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Harlan Paramore, a ManyVids creator who also helps other creators onboard and manage their selling sites, said he\u2019s noticed \u201cbizarre posts about AI, angel numbers, christopaganism, cyberpaganism.\u201d\u00a0\u201cI don’t have anything against any of those beliefs, but they seem wildly out of place for an official site blog. They are also heavily loaded with AI-like language and structure, and decorated with AI images,\u201d Paramore said. \u201cI’m also a professional artist, and as both an artist and sex worker I’m frustrated and confused. Some of it kind of sounds like AI psychosis, too, which has me concerned for whoever is running that blog.\u201d\u00a0\u201cI’m not a mental health professional, but whatever Bella is going through doesn’t seem normal. It doesn’t seem healthy,\u201d Screams said. \u201cFrom where I’m sitting, if I were close to Bella, I’d be reaching out to her other friends and family members to stage an intervention and try to get her serious mental health care.\u201d\u00a0All of this is coinciding with an apparent massive change in French\u2019s ideology toward sex work. On her personal website, French says the goal of ManyVids is changing to \u201ctransition one million people out of the adult industry.\u201d She calls sex work \u201cexploitative.\u201d Her bio quotes her as saying: \u201cI had two choices: surrender to an exploitative industry or dismantle it. I chose to build its replacement… ManyVids was the result\u2014the most efficient revenue-distribution engine for the AI-displaced workforce. Guided by first principles and core value thinking, Bella is leading MV\u2019s next evolution: a Fintech\/Social-Impact hybrid that turns digital presence into economic creation. By utilizing AI-integrated workflows and layered access, ManyVids is migrating creators from adult content into a diversified creative economy,\u201d her bio says. \u201cOur goal is to transition one million people out of the adult industry and do everything we can to ensure no one new enters it. We are working to transform an industry we don\u2019t believe should exist\u2014but we recognize that simple elimination creates deeper shadows. The solution is elevation through meaningful alternatives.\u201d\u00a0This is a recent addition to her website. According to archived versions of the site, the section about transitioning people out of the sex industry wasn\u2019t there in November 2025.\u00a0\u201cManyVids is now becoming a regulated e-social ecosystem \u2014 a digital space that sensitizes, elevates, and restricts adult content through layered brackets of access,\u201d French\u2019s bio says now. \u201cThis ensures that sacred sexual expression is never free, never exploited, and never divorced from its core human depth.\u201d The \u201clayered brackets\u201d seem to be a reference to the ChatGPT screenshots from August 20.\u00a0This is an extreme departure in tone from what French has said was her mission with ManyVids in the past. In 2019, I met French for an on-background hotel room meeting during the porn industry\u2019s biggest award show and conference, AVN, where she told me she created ManyVids out of a passion to create a platform where other sex workers\u2014having been an adult content creator herself\u2014would be treated fairly and would be listened to by the platform\u2019s owners. French is a former cam model herself, and has always been open publicly about wanting to create better platforms for other sex workers.\u201cTheir customers and their creators are not served in any way by these.” \u201cWe try to offer sex workers the tools to be more successful as independent entrepreneurs without being judged,\u201d French told the Daily Beast in 2019. \u201cWhat was really important for me was to educate the world and make them realize that porn stars are not stupid.\u201dShortly after she and I met in 2019, French agreed to a written interview as part of a VICE story about authenticity in cam work. In that email, she called camming the \u201cbiggest gift\u201d she\u2019d ever received. \u201cBeing a camgirl not only has a huge influence on my approach to taking business decisions but has changed the way I view people and life in general,\u201d French wrote at the time. \u201cEvery single decision we take at ManyVids must answer 1 simple question, \u2018Will this help the content creators, our MV Stars?\u2019 That\u2019s it,\u201d French wrote in 2019. \u201cIf the answer is yes then we proceed, regardless if there is any financial advantage or potential for profit, that is irrelevant.\u201d\u00a0Platforms have long profited off of sex workers and pornography to establish popularity and rake in revenue before eventually doing a heel-turn on the creators who made them successful. We\u2019ve seen it happen with mainstream social media platforms like Tumblr, Instagram, and Twitter, and also on sites ostensibly made for sex workers, like OnlyFans, which nearly changed its policies to ban explicit material after making billions of dollars off their content. \u00a0I asked ManyVids and French if the platform is changing to reflect these social media posts and her statements on her bio, who is making the AI-generated posts mentioned above, how French plans to \u201ctransition one million people\u201d out of sex work, and if any of this will affect creators and fans who use ManyVids. The ManyVids support team did not answer these questions specifically, but sent the following response (emphasis theirs): “Hello,\u00a0thanks for reaching out. Respect for Online Sex Workers. Sex work is real work. No more living in the shadows, no more being misunderstood.No more being afraid, shadowbanned, or persecuted by systems and institutions. Not on our watch.\u00a0We are not victims \u2014 and we are taking action now.This generation of online sex workers is about to\u00a0change the game forever\u00a0\u2014and transform the oldest profession in the world in the right direction,\u00a0for good. Respect the creators. Respect the work. Respect what you watch. We stand for\u00a0safety, dignity, and opportunity for all creators.”Screenshot of the emailed response from ManyVids supportI asked ManyVids to explain in specific terms what “we are taking action now” means. They replied: “A post will be published to our ManyVids News feed this Saturday, January 24th. It will provide additional clarification and go into a bit more detail on this,” with a link to the feed.\u201cIt concerns me that access to my earnings, and more importantly my personal information, is in the hands of someone seemingly out of touch with reality.\u201d\u00a0In the meantime, creators have been confused and worried for weeks. Nothing has changed about the way the site operates publicly or creators\u2019 payouts as of writing, but this is a series of events that many adult content creators are concerned represents a potential threat to their livelihood.\u201cIf something were to happen to MV (or to my account there) due to what can only be described as AI psychosis, I would lose upwards of 14k per year\u2014a not insignificant amount of income,\u201d another adult creator on ManyVids told 404 Media. \u201cIt concerns me that access to my earnings, and more importantly my personal information, is in the hands of someone seemingly out of touch with reality.\u201d\u00a0ManyVids takes a larger-than-most cut from creators’ profits, depending on the type of content: For videos and contest earnings (which are similar to tips), the platform takes 40 percent. On tips and custom video sales, it takes 20 percent, which is more in line with other adult platforms. This has been a source of complaint from creators for a long time, combined with unpredictable algorithms that creators say change how they\u2019re discovered on the platform and what content performs best, impacting their earnings. Users have expressed dissatisfaction with these aspects of the platform, and how French runs it, for years. But the recent turn to AI and French\u2019s statements about the industry are making some wonder if it\u2019s time to leave.\u00a0\u201cI will still be using ManyVids for NSFW content for as long as they allow it,\u201d adult content creator August told 404 Media. \u201cBut part of me thinks that they will try to do what OnlyFans did years ago and try to ban NSFW content which would be an absolute disaster for sex workers whose income depends on platforms like ManyVids.\u201d\u00a0Luna Sapphire, a creator who has been using the platform since 2015, said she finds French\u2019s statements on her website \u201charmful and insulting\u201d to those who\u2019ve helped popularize the site from the start. \u201cMost of us are not looking for a path out of the adult industry; we simply want to do our jobs with as little interference and censorship as possible,\u201d Sapphire said. \u201cBella used to be very pro-sex worker and it is disappointing to see her change her tune.\u201dSeveral adult platforms have embraced, or at least allowed, AI-generated content and \u201cmodels\u201d on their sites alongside human creators in the last few years. On OnlyFans, AI-generated is allowed, but must comply with the site\u2019s terms of service and and \u201cmust be clearly and conspicuously captioned as AI Generated Content with a signifier such as #ai, or #AIGenerated,\u201d Onlyfans says in its terms. Fansly, another adult platform for independent creators, forbids \u201cphotorealistic AI-generated content\u201d but allows non-photorealistic \u201cvirtual entities\u201d (like V-tubers) if they\u2019re registered using the uploader\u2019s real legal information for verification purposes. JustForFans requires that \u201cconsent, identity, and proof of age must be established if the AI images are based on a real person’s likeness,\u201d and allows deepfakes if consent has been established. \u201cFor example, you can use your own face to create images of yourself or a model who has granted consent to use their face,\u201d the platform\u2019s terms say. IWantClips, another site for selling custom content, also requires users making AI-generated models to verify their identities, but explicitly doesn\u2019t allow deepfakes.\u00a0In 2024, IWantClips awarded an AI-generated model $1,000 as the winner of a Valentine\u2019s Day-themed contest. \u201cAdora\u201d competed in the contest alongside human sex workers. On most of these sites, engagement and attention are currency, and on ManyVids, AI generated models sell content alongside humans. The platform prohibits \u201cAI-generated or deepfake content that misrepresents real individuals without consent,\u201d as part of its terms that forbid \u201ccontent that violates any third party’s intellectual property rights or another individual’s privacy.\u201d\u201cThe AI\/intense spirituality path has been so strange to witness, and I can\u2019t imagine what it\u2019s leaving the fans to think,\u201d Elizabeth Fields, an adult content creator who\u2019s used ManyVids for six years, told 404 Media. \u201cI don\u2019t understand what they are trying to do by taking this direction, nor do I understand how it\u2019s fair of a sexwork built site to assume all of us don\u2019t want to do NSFW content\u2013and to try and funnel us into this box of \u2018not enjoying the work we do. To an extent it feels degrading honestly\u2014just because Bella\u2019s experience in sex work was survival based and to make ends meet\u2014a lot of us thoroughly enjoy our jobs, the path we took, and want to continue doing this.\u201d\u00a0Many sex workers are disabled, neurodivergent, mentally ill, chronically ill, or \u201call of the above,\u201d Fields noted, and rely on online sex work to pay the bills. \u201cIt feels absolutely unfair to feel like we could be pushed off of a site that became popular off OUR NSFW content\u2014because they want to make it more SFW, and implement all these new AI features that will quite frankly just turn clients off.\u201d\u00a0Despite all of this, Fields said she won\u2019t be leaving the site. \u201cTo the point that as much as I’m extremely disappointed with many of the recent changes occurring, I won\u2019t be deleting my account as to not lose that income and disappoint my ManyVids fans.\u201d\u00a0Others are done. Sydney Screams said she\u2019s no longer uploading to ManyVids and made the decision to slowly start removing content from her stores there. \u201cPlatforms that allow for online sex work should be working FOR us, not against us. Sex workers use platforms like MV to earn our own living, to enable ourselves to have better lives, to keep ourselves housed and fed, to pay for medical bills, etc. Many of us choose this life and choose to make this our career, though there are far too many who are survival sex workers,\u201d Screams said. \u201cWe aren’t looking for a pathway out of the adult industry, especially on a platform that is a porn platform!!! Unless MV is going to start funding the educations & trainings of those trying to leave the industry for work elsewhere, I do not see how a porn platform is going to create a path out of the industry.\u201d\u00a0Emanuel Maiberg contributed reporting to this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"