Meet Yang Mun: The AI Monk Earning $300k Without Existing

A new investigation by journalist Jack Brewster has exposed the truth behind “Yang Mun,” an Instagram influencer who appears to be a calm Buddhist monk. With 2.5 million followers and a feed full of peaceful meditation content, Yang Mun looks real ,but he isn’t. He is completely AI-generated, part of a growing “Big Slop” economy where fake personas are created to make money at scale.

So how was Yang Mun created and how did he grow so big?

Building an AI influencer like Yang Mun involves using different AI tools together to mimic a real person. It starts with writing content. Tools like ChatGPT are used to create large amounts of text, such as philosophical thoughts or meditation scripts that sound wise and calming. Then, tools like HeyGen and ElevenLabs turn this text into realistic videos and voiceovers.

The final step is scaling. Creators use platforms like Nano Banana to automate posting and manage multiple accounts. This setup allows one person to run an account that looks active all the time. This scale generates major revenue, often without audiences realizing the influencer isn’t real.

This trend shows how AI is starting to challenge real influencers. As it becomes harder to tell what’s real and what’s not, social media is filling up with content made for algorithms and profit, rather than real human connection.