Conspirituality Podcast, Episode 291: My Chinese Buddhist Israeli AI Guru

Airdate: January 15, 2026
Hosts: Derek Barris, Matthew Remsky, Julian Walker

Episode Overview

This episode of Conspirituality explores the proliferation of AI-generated “spiritual” and “wellness” influencers—termed “slopfluencers”—that are reshaping both wellness grifting and pseudo-guru culture. The hosts deconstruct the phenomenon using concrete examples, such as Instagram’s AI Buddhist monk “Yang Moon.” They also touch on related issues: how AI-fueled disinformation amplifies in the wellness and political spheres, the uncanny nature of AI voices and imagery, and the parallels between past colonial appropriations of wisdom and the current synthetic spirituality boom.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. January 6th Anniversary and Political Gaslighting

(02:26–13:48)

• Julian recounts far-right revisionism on the 5th anniversary of the Capitol riots. He describes a new White House webpage that rebrands the rioters as “patriots” and frames law enforcement as aggressors (05:25, 09:10).
• Matthew: “I think we need a whole new threat level category for DARVO, because… everything’s flipped.” (04:19)
• Hosts discuss the dizzying effect of reality distortion and the collapse of shared narrative:
  • Derek: “It's hard to wrap your head around sometimes. You can live a life completely believing that Renee Goode is a left-wing antifa terrorist… and we're talking millions or tens of millions of people at this.” (04:27)
  • They draw parallels between this political gaslighting and wellness/AI slopfluencing (24:32).

2. AI “Slopfluencers” and Health Scams

(13:48–33:03)

• Derek spotlights new AI-generated “influencers” shilling unproven supplements—moringa, kombucha gummies, soursop bitters—often using personas like a “103-year-old Amish woman” or “Amazonian grandma.”
  • AI bots are producing content for real companies (e.g., Rosabella, Ambrosia Brands) with dubious business practices (15:54, 26:38).
• Julian observes the calculated absurdity and A/B-testing of these bots: “The mismatch between swearing and mild-mannered Amish health advice is a bizarre, but clearly calculated, choice. They found this thing creates engagement.” (15:19)
• The bots all follow/engage one another, amplifying their reach and confusing authenticity. Even some of the hosts’ contacts follow these accounts.
• Excerpts from “Abuela Naira” (AI Amazonian shaman):
  • “If the gut is weak, these ways lose their power… That is why this third one is most important. Kombucha… For you, my viewers, I found something that holds the same fermented character. Buchpod Kombucha gummies. They're on Amazon…” (20:05)
• Matthew’s Satire: “I wonder whether AI actually makes testing easier in the sense that you could generate a lot of bots, have them pretend to take the soursop bitters, and collect the data…” (24:01)
• Derek’s reflection: “It's truly impossible to know, like, oh, this is a real video and this isn't… That’s going to confuse a lot of people—even me, as I’m trying to do all the research on this.” (24:32)
• Underlying strategy: These are driven by real, young “business coach” entrepreneurs whose social media is all about scaling and revenue, not health knowledge. “They only talk about their products in terms of scaling and revenue. They don't actually talk about health.” (26:14)

3. Slippery Slope of AI-Driven Wellness Content

(33:03–35:48)

• Derek warns about rapid advances: In just two years, AI video has leapt from 3-second snippets to near-movie length; soon, it will be indistinguishable from human production (31:16).
• “This wave of slopfluencers is purely about the bottom line.” (32:48)
• Julian and Matthew both anticipate that the “ab-tested” ridiculousness will become more seamless and effective at engagement—and less obviously mockable. (33:04)

4. Segment: The AI Guru “Yang Moon”

(36:05–56:03)

• Yang Moon’s message:

  “Train your mind gently. Not to deny what is hard, but to see what is still good… Each time you choose to look for the good, you are training your inner eye. And slowly your world begins to change… If these words spoke to you, write ‘I see the good’ in the comments.” —Yang Moon (AI Guru) (36:05)

• Matthew dissects the uncanny AI voice:
  • "The peaks and valleys are perfectly aligned… almost like a metronome… there's no storytelling tension, no improvisation—just info dumping." (38:06, 46:59)
  • “As the visual imagery gets smoother, the hurdles that will be exposed will be around things like being able to tell a story in a convincing way.” (47:41)
• Julian: “It takes the New Age aesthetic to the next level… combining appeals to ancient wisdom traditions with commercialized claims about stress and clarity. The flavor comes through as well in the Chinese monk speaking with that upper class English accent. Sounds right away like someone educated to serve the occupying British elites.” (38:06)
• Visuals: Yang Moon appears in a pastiche of Ming-style temples, with imagery changing erratically as the AI recombines digital assets (40:00–41:41).
• The hosts discuss "reconstructor" culture versus organic cultural fusion, noting that Yang Moon is just the latest endpoint in centuries of appropriated wisdom, now fully synthetic (43:14–47:22).
  • Julian: “Blavatsky is essentially making up a bunch of stuff and claiming a whole set of paranormal experiences and then tying them back to this… ancient exotic tradition that none of you people who I'm selling this to actually know anything about.” (46:20)

5. Can AI Ever Replace a Guru? (Charisma, Narrative, Limitations)

(49:22–59:53)

• Matthew: “This avatar can… info dump at you, but they can't tell a story with an arc and a rhythm… because the bot is not stressed in presenting this material… That anxiety might be fueling a kind of charisma, right? It feels nothing.” (49:22)
• Julian: "This kind of more spiritual guru, influencer, they're also relying on… being a sociopathic actor who is saying a lot of things that they don't really believe because of the reaction that it elicits..." (50:44)
• Technological and business details: Young Moon’s site operates via two Israeli tech entrepreneurs, whose only digital footprint is business coaching and AI marketing, not spiritual knowledge (52:48).
• Evolution of grifting: Pandemic-era guru transition—brick-and-mortar cults suffering as charismatic online figures emerge, each inheriting less “mystique”; Young Moon is unbelievably popular (2.5 million followers since October), but offers only synthetic comfort (53:00–56:03).
• Julian: “Compared to all the other clips we've heard, there is something there that is very effective… It’s almost like you're listening to an Alan Watts discourse.” (56:03)

6. Cultural/Generational Reception—Hope for Resilience

(59:09–63:40)

• Matthew and Julian discuss how kids and teens are already savvy:
  • Kids can quickly spot AI-generated content and often treat it with contempt: “My kids were calling it slop and brain rot before I was.” (59:53)
  • Julian’s 7-year-old: “Dad, is this real life? Is this happening right now?” (60:10)
  • “For the kid who grows up in that, there are textures, there are signposts, there are sensual clues to what their world is telling them. And I don't think they're missing them.” (60:28)
• Matthew evokes Baudrillard: AI avatars lack interior depth, so despite proliferation, their influence may be brittle; they offer only the surface, never true mystery or transformative narrative (62:12–62:52):
  • “For them, I think Yang Moon might just be another NPC in this game of online life. If the old school guru had a source of value, it would be his mystery, his mystique, some sort of secret power… It’s never going to have interiority, it's never going to have a secret.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Matthew Remsky, on political gaslighting:

  “I think we need a whole new threat level category for DARVO, because… everything’s flipped. Everything’s flipped.” (04:19)

• Derek Barris, on reality collapse:

  “It's hard to wrap your head around sometimes. You can live a life completely believing that Renee Goode is a left-wing antifa terrorist… and we're talking millions or tens of millions of people at this.” (04:27)

• Julian Walker, on AI slopfluencing:

  “The mismatch between the yelling and the swearing and then the mild-mannered supposedly Amish health advice is such a bizarre, but clearly calculated, choice. They're doing some A/B testing there. They found this thing creates engagement.” (15:19)

• Derek Barris, on technology’s pace:

  “Within the span of two years, we've gone through three second clips to like people are about to start making entire movies with AI… That’s never how technology works.” (31:16)

• “Yang Moon” (AI Guru):

  “Train your mind gently. Not to deny what is hard, but to see what is still good… Each time you choose to look for the good, you are training your inner eye. And slowly your world begins to change.” (36:05)

• Matthew Remsky, on AI’s uncanny valley:

  "This avatar can… info dump at you, but they can't tell a story with an arc and a rhythm… That anxiety might be fueling a kind of charisma, right? It feels nothing." (49:22)

• Julian Walker, on cultural appropriation vs. exchange:

  “Blavatsky is essentially making up a bunch of stuff… then tying them back to this ancient exotic tradition that none of you people… actually know anything about.” (46:20)

• Matthew Remsky, on the post-guru age:

  “If the old school guru had a source of value, it would be his mystery, his mystique… I don't know if an avatar could ever achieve that. It’s never going to have interiority, it's never going to have a secret.” (62:12)

Important Timestamps

• 02:26–13:48 — Political revisionism of January 6th and its relation to conspiratorial thinking
• 13:48–33:03 — AI “slopfluencers” in health and wellness
• 20:05 — Example of AI “Abuela Naira” pitching kombucha gummies
• 24:32 — Difficulty distinguishing authenticity in the AI age
• 26:38 — Entrepreneurs behind slopfluencer products
• 31:16 — AI video’s accelerating ability to fool/replace
• 36:05 — First playthrough of “Yang Moon”’s advice
• 38:06–40:00 — Breakdown of Yang Moon’s persona and uncanny voice
• 43:14–47:22 — Debate on cultural syncretism vs. colonial appropriation
• 49:22 — AI's incapacity for charisma, narrative, or “soul”
• 52:48–56:03 — Who’s behind “Yang Moon”; the business model
• 59:09–63:40 — Kids’ savvy about AI; can avatars ever fill the guru role?

Conclusion

The hosts paint a vivid picture of the “slopfluencer” moment, where AI-generated wellness and guru content pushes the old boundaries of manipulation and influence. They connect this moment to deeper social trends: the erosion of shared reality, the continuity between past colonial appropriations and new digital ones, and an emerging generational literacy in detecting digital “slop.” Ultimately, the show raises both alarm and hope—worrying about ever-more-convincing fakes, but also finding resilience in the skepticism and adaptability of younger audiences.

For listeners seeking to understand how AI is colliding with wellness, conspiracy, and the business of spirituality, this episode is essential—and more than a little chilling.