I’m a comedian whose joke was stolen by an AI creator. I blame Meta and feel powerless.

George Brett Olson, a comedian, has expressed his frustration over his joke being stolen by an AI account on Instagram. Olson, who began stand-up comedy in 2021, said the joke about AI stealing jobs went viral after a friend sent him a video of someone else performing it. Despite having done the joke for a year, Olson was shocked to see a similar version posted by an AI account with more followers than he had.

Olson reached out to the AI account owner, asking if the account was real and if someone helped her create the joke. The account owner did not respond and later removed videos and apologized. Meta's head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, acknowledged the issue but stated that it would be difficult to stop AI content from appearing on the platform. Mosseri promised to look into the matter and work towards promoting original content creators.

Olson expressed disappointment in Meta's response, feeling demoralized by the language used, which seemed to imply that there was nothing that could be done. He believes that the situation could damage the internet and hopes that people will return to attending live shows.