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Amy
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Lori Siegel
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Lori Siegel
It's just. It's like thirst trap kind of content.
Amy
We'll have a thirst trap at Violet. Right?
Lori Siegel
Like, this is. I just tried to explain it to people.
Amy
We embrace it.
Lori Siegel
Yeah.
Amy
Look, we're 18 and over. We can be a little edgy and risque, so why not?
Lori Siegel
Yeah, like, because what I just looked at, I mean, you look hot. Your AI is hot.
Amy
My AI is definitely like, yeah, I mean your AI. I see other people's AIs. I'm just like, wow, it's so good. But it's not that it doesn't look like them. Yeah, it's just this kind of like a bit more polished, like, oh, what I look like when I, you know, do my hair and wear makeup.
Lori Siegel
For me, it was like before kids, you know, before having a child. I'm Lori Siegel and you're listening to Mostly Human, a tech podcast through a human lens. Amy, I'm so happy to have you here. And like, full disclosure, we are friends.
Amy
Yes.
Lori Siegel
And how we became friends is we met at. Was it. It was in Lisbon.
Amy
Right.
Lori Siegel
At a tech conference, was it?
Amy
Actually, I think it might have been in London.
Lori Siegel
Yes. I feel like you are my person at tech conferences.
Amy
Yeah.
Lori Siegel
Where I always need a safe space and someone in a corner who can like be like a breath of fresh air with all the tech bros. And honestly, that is you. And I feel like it kind of says something about you.
Amy
That's very sweet. I appreciate that. I feel the same way where you just have this kind of like, I feel like we just met and just immediately clicked as friends. And I mean your background is also fascinating. So we just had a lot to chat about when it came to just the tech world in general.
Lori Siegel
Well, you go into these tech circles and oftentimes not to be cliche, it's just like all dudes talking about dude things and not really the human way into things. And we initially always just had interesting conversations about the state of technology, about all the things kind of happening and it always just felt a little bit different. So I'm glad to have you here especially. We've been doing so much, so much dark stuff on artificial intelligence and what happens when you lose consent online and how AI can be misused. And so to think about how it can actually be used to benefit and how we can have more ownership. Seems like you're like our perfect guest for this.
Amy
Thank you.
Lori Siegel
So, okay, so you have such an interesting background which we're going to get into, but I want to just start to talk by talking about Violet. This is your new venture. I know you're kind of the tagline for it is it's like the HBO of social media. Tell us a little bit about it.
Amy
Yeah. So Violet I co founded with my business partner Kayleigh Magdar. We've been working on it honestly since 20 end of 24, 2025. It was our full time venture when we raised Money did the whole thing. And then we just launched in April of this year. And Violet's an 18 and over platform where anyone can monetize content, build a community. We really took the best parts of social media and creator platforms and put them into one new experience. So, you know, I grew up, you know, to date myself a little bit in like the MySpace era where social media was much more social and fun. And as did my business partner. And as we were kind of like ideating like, oh, should we do something in this space? You know, it really came down to our own frustrations with, you know, how the current state of social media is. Meaning there's a lot of doom scrolling, there's a lot of seeing content that, you know, minors shouldn't see or even we shouldn't see that, you know, we don't know what's gonna always be shown to us. And you know, we wanted something fun. We wanted to like see content from people we care about. We wanted to, you know, have that, you know, surprise and delight of discovery back into social media. We're 18 and over, so we do allow for topless content. So that's where we've been dubbed, you know, the HBO social media. But there's nothing fully new, there's nothing explicit. You know, we take the stance that social media, especially when monetizations involved, should be for adults.
Lori Siegel
I love that you just mentioned MySpace. And I'm also, I guess going to date myself because I loved MySpace. I was like the girl that like wrote poems on MySpace and of course like email Laurie. Like I had. I just, it was such a cool community. But it's actually MySpace predated Facebook and all. It just like, it was really kind of how we grew up with social media. It felt really different when I first got into social media. Just felt like this was really interesting and it was cool and it brought you closer with your friends and it felt like a little bit punk rock. It just felt like a different time. And that was like, God, I feel so old saying this, but this was like 15, almost like 20 years ago, early 2000s.
Amy
Yeah, yeah. Things were so different than online. You had these platforms just emerging before. They've what? You know, before what they've evolved into now, which no one at the time would have ever guessed.
Lori Siegel
Yeah. Were you growing up, what was your like gateway into tech? Was it MySpace?
Amy
Like you're now like a big tech,
Lori Siegel
you're like a tech CEO now. So growing up, was there something that was like your gateway? I guess mine was like a tamagotchi does that.
Amy
I was gonna say Nintendo 64.
Lori Siegel
Okay.
Amy
Or maybe no, Super Nintendo. Really date myself, like, you know, I just grew up on, you know, different video games. A Game Boy. I had an original Game Boy. I think there's something about new technology that I've always just naturally gravitated towards.
Lori Siegel
Yeah, same. I remember in college, it was like I was one of the first to get an iPhone. And people are like, that's so weird. What is that I've got again. I just feel like I'm like an old person talking to someone at this moment. But like. But it was. There's something about kind of new technology and something about you that I've always thought was really interesting. And I know this as your friend, but also as I was looking through your history and really understanding it is like you are an edge person too. Like, you like the edges before they become the center.
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Lori Siegel
Before Violet, you were the CEO of OnlyFans. So adult content. This kind of felt like it was a bit on the edges. Before that, it was cannabis. You were opening up a cannabis cafe in Los Angeles. Things that, you know, might be hard to explain to mom and dad. What was it? What is it about the edges that interest you?
Amy
Well, you say edge, I say forefront. You know, being on the forefront of what's new, what's interesting. You know, I kind of naturally gravitate towards what's up and coming. What might be considered. Considered a little bit taboo before it hits much more of mainstream culture. You know, I. Not sure where that comes from in terms of. It's probably just a natural interest, curiosity. Professionally, I've worked in a range of industries from fashion, cpg, tech, and the common thread throughout everything is really just like, oh, what's new? What's up and coming? I think there's something very exciting about that. And also having that kind of eye or insight into what could that potentially be. And while it's controversial to others, you know, fast forward a few years, it's much more mainstream and loses a bit of that stigma to it.
Lori Siegel
Yeah. I mean, and so going back, you were born in Mumbai, you were raised in Virginia. An only child.
Amy
I am an only child.
Lori Siegel
Only child. Your parents are immigrants. I'm curious, did their journey impact your career aspirations at all?
Amy
So, actually, I don't think I've talked about this publicly, but I'm adopted from India. My father's Indian and my mom's American, but just grown up. I have this obviously very pronounced. I like to say LA accent, but, you know, I think having parents from a different background and also, you know, most places that I've lived, like, there's not a ton of diversity. So I think that starts to shape your outlook on how you see things. And now even in my adult life, I find like, oh, I have so many more South Asian friends than I ever did growing up, because there just weren't various different types of people around. Yeah.
Lori Siegel
And I mean, especially it's so funny because I think so many journalists, when you're, like, looking at this, call your background as a tech CEO non traditional, because it seems as though, like so many of the people we see in these roles in technology feel a little bit similar or have similar backgrounds. But I do find it's really interesting when you meet people who. Who grew up in places where they might not have felt like they always fit or it felt like there was something that was always the same. I remember growing up the only Jewish girl at a very Christian conservative Southern school where there was a lack of diversity. My whole career has been spent saying, okay, how do we get more people involved? Or that perspective is so much more interesting, or that it feels like it's like a frustration that actually ended up being a fuel to some degree for you.
Amy
I completely agree. I mean, I remember when I was turning 13 and my birthday party was the pool party, and I lived in a very predominantly Jewish area and went to nothing but bar and bat mitzvahs every weekend. I was like, well, my birthday really sucks.
Lori Siegel
That's really funny. Well, I grew up where no one had gone to a bar bat mitzvah. I was the only bat mitzvah they came to. They had no idea what it was. So that's really interesting. Okay. And so you end up. You tell me, let's start with a cannabis cafe.
Amy
Okay.
Lori Siegel
So before joining OnlyFans, you helped launch one of Los Angeles first cannabis cafes. I mean, this is post legalization, but I'm sure at the time this industry was heavily regulated. This probably wasn't the easiest of things. What did you learn from that experience? How did you get into that?
Amy
So I got into it working with a brand in the sector, and they were opening a establishment in West Hollywood which was very friendly to cannabis overall. And this was like 2018, 2019 at the time. So there were dispensaries all over LA, the way that you see liquor stores, a lot of places in the U.S. so there were tons of these kind of like cool brands popping up. And also, to give context, my background, I worked with Red Bull before being in Cannabis, it's kind of again, like a little edgy being on the forefront. And with that business, there's a lot of regulation, you must be 21 to consume. Also a lot of misconceptions like what where people think like, oh, this is going to cause to have a lot of bad actors around or, you know, there's, you know, a certain reputation with, you know, we all grew up with movies about the stoner in high school, but really there's tons of people where, whether it's a medicinal value, recreation, provide some sort of, you know, just like anxiety relief. Like people are consuming it all the time. Like we've all been to concerts. Like it's not, it's not that big of a deal.
Lori Siegel
Yeah, yeah. And I imagine opening this cafe. What did you learn? What did you learn about the industry? What did you learn about people?
Amy
We're all really similar.
Lori Siegel
In what sense?
Amy
I will say, you know, there was something special about that place. It's no longer around. It shut down during COVID Can't have in person establishments, even though cannabis was an essential business at the time. But there is something special where you're seeing, especially in West Hollywood, a lot of people know it for being such a leader in the gay culture and community. But there's also a lot of elderly people there and they didn't have anywhere to go. So you'd have these locals come over and just, you know, want to sit, have a coffee and a joint. But then they'd be sitting next to like a rapper and like in like, you know, iced out chains. But it's just there's something about this like, really unique diversity that you don't see everywhere. And I was leading marketing for the business at the time and you know, it was covered on the family friendly Today show, which, you know, could be considered to taboo, but really you're just looking at something like, you know, anyone that's older, they probably were teenagers in the 70s. So it was everywhere. So there's something about this, you know, the education of how this product is beneficial for a range of people and just again, breaking down that misconception of like, who's actually using this. And you know, when something's regulated, there's, you know, good ways it can be used.
Lori Siegel
I did see some funny little tidbit about how did you guys have to like train the waiters to help manage any spiraling customers or something. That's funny.
Amy
There's a few tricks if someone gets too high. Although it's funny is people think that I'm like, you know, just reputationally, as someone who's been in Vice Industries, this, like, party girl. So they're like, oh, you probably smoke. You do all this stuff. And I'm like, I am the most boring person.
Lori Siegel
I don't believe that. I feel like you're interested. Let's talk about OnlyFans. You join in 2020 as the head of marketing. What a year to join OnlyFans, right?
Amy
Yeah. So I joined as CMO the business. I was based in Los Angeles at the time, entered the company through a mutual friend of the owner, and, you know, had this real vision of how it's a disruptor in entertainment, owning your ip, the creator economy brought in a lot of vernacular that wasn't being used at the time. Also brought in a lot of relationships and new ideas to help drive the business in a direction that they weren't necessarily thinking of at that time.
Lori Siegel
And describe what OnlyFans was at the time, kind of before you kind of got in, and then how that evolved.
Amy
So, like, everyone, we kind of were seeing it on social media. You saw some girls in bikinis sharing like, oh, follow me here, subscribe to me here. And I was just like everyone else, like, this looks. What is this? You know, as someone who likes to be on the edge or the forefront, I'm naturally just curious about a new platform. So I'm immediately intrigued. And, you know, it obviously had the reputation and continues to do so for spicy content, but I really saw it as being like, oh, this is a true disruptor in, like, creator economy. Influencer and how people can actually own their IP.
Lori Siegel
Yeah. You said in one interview, 2020 was the year the influencer became the creator. Talk to me about that.
Amy
So that's where, look, we all have phones, we all really. We're all creators, we're all entrepreneurs. Everyone's a mult. Multi hyphen it. But at that point, it's like influencers were at home. Everyone was at home. You're just consuming content, whether it was on, you know, Twitch, YouTube, only fans, any social platform. Everyone's just hungry for content, hungry for consumption. So that's where there is this uptick. And anyone who is already creating content, they went double, triple time because they just saw, like, such engagement happening.
Lori Siegel
Yeah, it's almost like Covid was just this accelerator for so many things. It was a complete shift in the way we interacted with each other and the way we worked and all of these things. And it did do something fundamentally to the creator world that has evolved since then, but completely changed the game.
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Wait, I came in for two things. How is this $47? All right, we're gonna need a plan here.
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Lori Siegel
So it's 2021 now and you become CEO. The CEO stepped down. Some controversy. The platform had said it would ban explicit content. Then it backtracked and Tim stepped down. You stepped up. What was going through your mind when you got the call that you would be CEO?
Amy
You know, it's nice to be. And I'm forever grateful for being just acknowledged for the work that I had done and continued to support for the business. And that's kind of that instance where it's like, oh, I didn't realize it at the time, but I was the one chiming in with, oh, let's work with this, let's have this partnership, let's do this. Or, you know, there's different emails and scenarios where I'm stepping in and sharing, you know, opinions, ideas on what to do. And also coming into the business so passionately of like, oh, this is a true disruptor is what led to, you know, taking the reins when Tim stepped down. And then that's when I really doubled down on platform safety, transparency, a lot of those kind of core trust and safety fundamentals. You know, when we get into Violet, that's really what's impacted a lot of the foundations of the platform I co founded.
Lori Siegel
Was there a learning curve at all?
Amy
Definitely, in a sense that a lot of people don't know this, but OnlyFans is a UK domiciled business. So, you know, there's a lot of public affairs learnings. You know, we didn't grow up learning about the UK government in the us you know, you have the House of Commons, House of Lords. Like, you know, I remember looking at a list and I was like, these sound like Harry Potter characters. Like, I don't know, what do you mean? Wait, explain that. You know, everyone goes by like, you know, a much more formal title. You know, things are quite traditional there. And the biggest learning is seeing, you know, how the UK especially at the time, was much more on the forefront of online safety, especially the age verification. And now that's look at the rest of the world. It's caught on in terms of these conversations around, like, oh, what are minors being exposed to? Like, how can we prevent that? Should social media be for anyone under 16 or over 16?
Lori Siegel
So it's really interesting because the UK has been ahead, especially with deep fake abuse and so many of these issues surrounding online safety. And it is interesting because during your time there, I saw this thread emerge. Like you wanted OnlyFans to be known for more than just adult content. This is like part of now what you're doing At Violet, which we're gonna get into. Why do you think OnlyFans didn't really make that leap? Like, what were you frustrated? Like, what was that like? And with some of these priorities and how have you kind like taken that into Violet?
Amy
I feel like it's still, you know, known for a range of creators. You're kind of always seeing different news articles of like, oh, this person's on only fans, this person's doing that. So it's always been known for it. But because it does allow for, you know, content on the spicier side, it will, you know, have a bit of that reputation, which I think is good. That's what gave it that kind of cool factor and continues to, you know, keep it relevant in the media. And then looking at Violet, that started as really our own frustrations with social media and the doom scrolling, the not seeing content from your friends. But also we all have friends that want to monetize. They don't have a following, they don't know how, they don't know where to start. And it's really quite intimidating looking at these other platforms. They don't know, oh, how do I set up a profile, how do I set up a page? And that's where it kind of clicked like, oh, wait, we can take the best of social media, the best of a creator platform in terms of the monetization tools, and put them into one new experience. And that's where we really see Violet, you know, as its own lane in the market. You know, there's nothing sitting between creator platforms and social media for adults. So we really categorize it as adult social media.
Lori Siegel
Yeah, it's like. And so you left OnlyFans in 2023. Before we leave OnlyFans, can you just like take me into the room? What was like the craziest call or experience you had as the CEO of OnlyFans?
Amy
I mean, there's a lot of funny conversations and this even happens now around like, okay, what's getting moderated for content? For example, Halloween costumes so you can't have blood. But if it's in a like a costume setting, like, oh, it's like learning about different context for things. And then. And I feel like you'll relate to this. It's just people's. And this happens to this day still where people can't believe, like, oh, that's your job or you worked at that company. It's like, well, yes, yes, I did. There's many times I'll get on calls and people aren't expecting an Executive to look the way that I do, or many times people think that I'm. Which is a compliment, significantly younger than I am. And I will have to voluntarily give up my age or say I'm a lot older than I look.
Lori Siegel
Oh, that's so interesting. Just like even like the misconception of like, you get on a call and someone doesn't realize, the OnlyFans CEO could
Amy
be like, like, who is this kid? Where is the. Are you the assistant? Yeah.
Lori Siegel
Wow.
Amy
Wow.
Lori Siegel
So you decide to leave. It's 2023. What made you decide to leave? Was it the opportunity for something new? Was it time to move on?
Amy
What was it kind of a combination where, you know, I felt like it was time to move on. I had done so many, like, amazing, accomplished a ton of goals, growth experience. You know, I joke it's like an MBA on steroids. And then it's like, okay, how can I take this experience and do something on my own? So that's when I left. I launched an advisory hoxton with my co founder business partner Kaylee. And we're both very entrepreneurial. So in the back of our minds, while we're working with a range of clients, we had like fintech, luxury cpg. Like, okay, well, we want to start a company. Our running joke was that every shady character that you can imagine who had their idea for the next like of would reach out to us of being only. Yeah. And then, you know, we always shunned them away, especially Kaylee. But it happened so much. And then it was kind of like I was always like, no, I'm not gonna go back into that sector. But it was really just seeing like, oh, no one's talking to this entire white space of potential users, of people who want to monetize, don't know how. And then just look at the frustrations. Like I hear from not just creators, but our friends or, you know, other influencers talent, where they're like, I don't. They're frustrated with the current state of social media. They've plateaued on growth. They're not. Their content's not seen, they're not being seen. So we kind of felt like, okay, maybe there's something here.
Lori Siegel
Well, and there's also just like this really interesting moment happening, like after ChatGPT launches 2022, AI is nothing new, but now it's mainstream.
Amy
It happens so fast, it happens so quickly.
Lori Siegel
And all of a sudden there are all these conversations about consent online. I mean, I know for me it's really near and dear. The rise of Sexually explicit deepfakes. A lot of these women in public, some more public than others, who had their likeness taken. Because now we're in this age where our most intimate features, our voice, our face, our bodies can be mimicked with AI. And so now we're entering this era where consent online really matters. And if someone wanted to create AI Laurie, to do anything, they could. And so I think it's really interesting to think about. Well, you combine that moment with a lot of the stuff and the frustration from creators. And also, what could a social media platform look like if it was built with folks who have experience in the creator world, but who are also women? And I think that kind of, like, combination and those ingredients are kind of at the core of Violet. It almost feels a little bit like an offshoot of OnlyFans, but very different in some capacities. You've launched just a couple months ago, so what have you seen so far?
Amy
So we're still very new, but we have about 10,000 users on the platform already. We're continuing to grow daily, adding upwards of 500 to a thousand new users. You know, to us, Anyone can join violetworld.com but you jump on, you're able to make a profile, you're able to leverage AI tools. We have AI chat, image generation, we have vibe matching. So if you're a fan, you want to find a creator to follow, you can type in their, you know, an aesthetic preference. You can type in hobbies, interests. Like, there's this discovery feature that's just not available elsewhere. So that's something we're really excited about. And also, everyone on the platform is a human because you go through an onboarding process where, you know, there's age verification, there's. You're setting up a profile. We actually require everyone to have a profile image. We found that it makes just a much more enjoyable engagement experience when it's not just that, like, icon. We really, while we have AI tools, you know, we do value and prioritize human connection and experiences. It's fully integrated as a space where anyone can build a community, connect with their kind of, like, creators. They might know they want to follow. They can, you know, have a place online to discover, you know, have that sense of discovery back. It's just not. It hasn't been around for a long time.
Lori Siegel
So you're months in. What are you seeing? Like, what are interesting creators doing? Like, how are they interacting with it? What are people monetizing? How's it working?
Amy
So you're seeing a range of content. Also, anyone can Share content on Violet. We want people to feel like they can express themselves.
Martha
Yeah.
Amy
The only difference between kind of fans or users, users of the platform and creators is that creators set up subscription tiers, meaning they can monetize their content through premium VIP subscriptions, through pay per view content, custom content that they're able to upsell to their followers.
Lori Siegel
Let's talk about the AI integration. What is Violet doing with AI that's unique? What are the decisions made to get there? What will you do? What won't you do?
Amy
So for AI, we want creators to have full control over their digital twin, meaning that they upload 8 to 12 images of themselves to be able to train it. You know, they can put in, create their own prompts. We have pre selects if they're like, not sure what they want to write. And it's really streamlined the image creation process. They own all of the AI images that are generated. So after they generate an image, if they like it, they can post it to their Violet profile. They could post it to their, you know, VIP or premium tier and upsell it, or they can download it and then it will be watermarked with Violet AI too. And that gives them like, really a sense of control over their likeness, their ip. We also have AI chat on Violet, so that's where you're actually chatting with Violet AI. It's getting to know you, your tone of voice, It'll ask you questions, oh, where are you from? What hobbies are you into? Do you have any pets? Like, it truly does get to know you. Like, I keep my AI chat turned on and I'll find people who chat with it. But of course, because we're all about transparency, I can then go back and see like, okay, what is AI Amy even saying to people?
Lori Siegel
And the idea is that you could monetize aiu you have ownership over your AI likeness. And this is a social network and place where you could kind of put it to work if you wanted to, to some degree.
Amy
Right, exactly. That's where, you know, you just can toggle to turn on your AI, so then it can chat for you. You know, if you're at work, you have other things going on, but then your fans get that sense of like, oh, like Lori's, you know, recording a podcast, but, oh, I can chat with her AI, right? Or like, as a creator, so much work to produce a full shoot, make content. And this allows you to like, oh, I want to, you know, what if someone's like, oh, I want to see what you look like in a purple Wig or in a blue shirt. Well, quickly use AI and it'll generate whatever you want. You know, on Violet, we have everything labeled with AI for transparency. So on all the images, there's a star icon. So, you know, okay, this was created with Violet AI. And it's very clear even in the chat, there's a live chat with the actual creator. And then you can see like, oh, their AI. When you're chatting with their AI.
Lori Siegel
Is there a world, like, I mean, it certainly seems like we are entering this world where people are okay with talking to an AI version of somebody.
Amy
Oh, absolutely. Look at the success of, like, replica character AI, these other, you know, platforms where people a lot of times are talking to a fictional character.
Lori Siegel
Yeah.
Amy
Or someone made up. And this allows you to be like, oh, wait, this is based off of a real person.
Lori Siegel
Yeah.
Amy
And I, you know, at the end of the day, as much as we all embrace AI and AI tools, nothing takes the place of the human experience.
Lori Siegel
Yeah. Well, what's interesting is, like, you see. So you see this, like, it's like this idea of world building. So many of these really successful AI companies. And I look at, like, character AI, although, albeit they didn't have the correct guardrails with, like. And. And they also didn't have the permissions, like, they had, like, AI Nicki Minaj. But AI Nicki Minaj was building out a world and having all these crazy conversations with folks and getting millions and millions of chats, which kind of proves the point that people know that it's not Nicki Minaj, but they are willing to do it. The problem with character AI is that they didn't have permission from Nicki Minaj to be doing this. And so my understanding from Violet is that you do have permission and people.
Amy
Yeah, we're not doing anything. It's actually the creator, the talent, who is like, oh, they've taken the decision to train their Violet AI chat and they turn it on.
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Amy
They're the ones creating all the images. We're actually not doing anything. We're providing the tools for them. And there's some creators that, you know, they have. They don't, you know, use the AI tools as frequently.
Lori Siegel
Yeah.
Amy
And more so they like the. Just the user experience, the subscription tiers. Right. And there's some where, like, they're just cranking out those images. Listen, I'm like.
Lori Siegel
And we're gonna play with it, like, literally right now. But I will say, like, I am really excited about my AI Lori, because it does feel like another enough separation that, like, I could kind of see how people are interacting with AI Laurie, what they're saying. I think that could be really interesting as long as I have, like, the quality control and the ability to have to understand, you know, oh, that's not what I would say. Or that is what I would say. Or train it more and more to kind of be like me. I think it's such an interesting, you know, we are entering this world where I guess, like, these relationships, the lines between reality are just blurring a bit. And it's interesting to watch what people are attracted to and also what kind of guardrails and how you build that in a way that's safe for both parties.
Amy
I mean, that's where we have, of course, like, all of the moderation. There's nothing on the platform we can't see. No one can go in and try to make AI images that aren't of themselves. There is precautions behind the scenes to prevent that. We've kind of thought through a lot of these different scenarios and. And we'd want to prevent it from being used by bad actors. And those are a lot of conversations had early on with our CTO Stefan, who's in there making sure, okay, this is safe. No one can upload an image that would be against our terms of service or try to upload an image that's not of them. That's where we've put a lot of these. Thanks to AI, you have a lot of pre check of content. So we see everything's pre checked before it's published. And that actually is the same with our own AI images too. So they're even reviewed per our moderation guidelines. Before that, they're published on Violet.
Lori Siegel
Wow. Okay, so I feel like we should play with Violet.
Amy
Let's have some fun.
Ryan Reynolds
Wait, I came in for two things. How is this $47? All right, we're gonna need a plan here.
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Martha
when Kohler, the global design leader in luxurious kitchen and bath products, came to me and said, martha, we need an ambassador for our timeless, elegant, durable cast iron products. I said, I'm in. Now. Let me see the factory. Weeks later, I was suited up in coveralls and work boots, walking through their Kohler, Wisconsin cast iron foundry. I stood next to the molten iron furnace, saw the hand applying enamel and touched the gorgeous finished products waiting to be sent out into the world. Since 1883, Kohler cast iron products have been forged and finished by the incredible craftspeople right in Kohler, Wisconsin. I'll tell you, I gained a newfound respect and appreciation for Kohler's cast iron craftsmanship. So now I'm lending my discerning staff of approval to my most beloved Kohler cast iron products for their durability, beauty and timelessness. Shop my Kohler Cast Iron favorites curated on Kohler.com bring the warmth, character and enduring style of these timeless products into your kitchens and bathrooms. As the Kohler Cast Iron Ambassador, I say long live Cast Iron.
Lori Siegel
Okay, all right, so now I'm on. Here we are. The best thing is like, it gave me a username. It asked it like suggested it and I was like, I love this username so much. It's Shadow Avalanche Lore.
Amy
Badass. We love it.
Lori Siegel
Going back to my MySpace days, for some reason I'm like, wow, like some emo Shadow Avalanche lore. And so that's me on Violet. Shadow Avalanche Lore I think I might have to change my tagline. I need to. You have to help me get, like, more creator friendly, Amy. Because, like, I think I'm too, like, in my head.
Amy
Yeah, I just feel like a fun bio.
Lori Siegel
Mine was curiosity, empathy, and agency.
Amy
I think it can be a little cooler, but scripters are good.
Lori Siegel
But I know now that I hear it, I'm like, this is so cringeworthy. Clearly. Clearly. This is my first time on here. Okay, so I'm gonna change that. But then I go to.
Amy
So if I go to student Messaging.
Lori Siegel
Messaging. Okay, start training. So unlock your AI chat for your friends. Okay, so then it's gonna go into
Amy
the Violet AI chat. It's gonna ask you a few questions.
Lori Siegel
You know, nothing would make me happier than to make AI Laurie available for people who listen to this so they can hang out with her. Okay. It says, I'm Violet. Nice to meet you. I'm here to help you set up your Persona profile, and I wanna get to know the real you. Can you tell me a bit about yourself? Whatever feels important or interesting to share. So any advice on, like, how you're a reporter?
Amy
Hi, I'm a focus on tech.
Lori Siegel
I'm tech journalist. All right.
Amy
Move in New York.
Lori Siegel
But I probably shouldn't mention I have a pet axolotl and a child. Is that not.
Amy
Aren't they both your children?
Lori Siegel
That's true, that's true, that's true. I'm so sorry, Butter, you were first. Butter's my axolotl who lives in New
Amy
York,
Lori Siegel
runs mostly human media. I have a pet axolotl. Are you dying at how I'm training my AI? Okay, so I'm sitting here kind of training my AI, but I find that it's like asking me kind of to go a little bit more specific and to kind of reveal other things. So how is this different than training, like, than ChatGPT or Claude or some of these other models and how they train?
Amy
So this is really meant to actually get to know you in a way that then it can represent you to other people, which is, you know, again, a personal chat. Diving a little bit deeper than, you know, you might elsewhere, but also in a. In a way that's also training on your tone of voice. You can put in emojis you use, and then under settings, you're able to further customize everything. You know, if you're like, oh, I'm. Personally, I'm very optimistic. So I have that one slid all the way up. Or you can say like, oh, under tone of voice, you Might be more formal, you might be long, you may chat longer, shorter. So we really give a lot of customization options to creators to be able to be like, okay, this is how I chat, or I want to just tweak it a little bit more. And as you're using it, it just continues to get to know you. That's really it. Like, I put on mine, I added a bunch of emojis that I use when I text my friend.
Lori Siegel
Cool.
Amy
And it feels much more personal.
Lori Siegel
Okay, so I'm 60% trained. I can come back to training, right?
Amy
Yes, you can return to your training. Okay.
Lori Siegel
And then can we look at my AI twin? Yes.
Amy
So we can generate an image. So what happens when it's trained is that then it's known Violet AI knows who you are. It has like your digital image image stored. So then you're able to go to create a post, and then you're able to generate an AI image.
Lori Siegel
Wow. Okay, so first of all, let me show you my AI twin. I just.
Amy
I mean, I mean, she's beautiful.
Lori Siegel
She's.
Amy
She's not as like, I feel like
Lori Siegel
I really want to do what my AI twin is doing to take care of herself, to be honest. She's like. It's just like kind of a bit of an elevated.
Ryan Reynolds
Yeah.
Amy
As I was saying, it's just like, oh, it's like a bit more. It's like a little bit me before the wedding.
Lori Siegel
You know, it was like me when I had taken care of myself.
Amy
I mean, you look great now.
Lori Siegel
So now I go back and now if I want to create my first post, I go to new post.
Amy
Oh, yeah.
Lori Siegel
Then you can do generate AI twin.
Martha
Emmett.
Advertisement Voice
Okay.
Lori Siegel
Oh, wow. Describe your vision. So far, I've done like a very poor job of being a creator on here.
Amy
Well, that's where the presets come in. So then you can kind of like, you know, feel it out. Be like, oh, do I want to be on a rooftop? Do I want to be on a beach?
Lori Siegel
Yeah, I want to be in the forest. Oh, okay. So it's giving me options. This is great. So it says, describe your vision. Tell us what you want to see. So your mood outfit, anything like that. So I'm gonna say in a lush forest. It gives me the options of sexy, classy, edgy, dreamy, dark. Oh, luxurious. Maybe I'll be luxurious in lush forest. Like does that. Okay. Oh, okay. Luxurious I outfit. Oh, so I could. I'm not gonna put myself in lingerie on this one just. Cause like, I feel like I Just feel like all of us aren't there yet.
Amy
It'll be for the subscription tier.
Lori Siegel
That's for Charlie's college fund. Let's do glam. This is so fun.
Amy
Okay.
Lori Siegel
Enhancing my prompt.
Amy
Okay, so now you can see it's much more detailed. Or if you wanted to add in, like, oh, I want to wear red. Or.
Lori Siegel
Okay. Elegant and shimmering gown. Forest twilight.
Amy
Oh, it sounds golden.
Lori Siegel
Light opulent, Moss covered stones, rich velvet fabric. Dreamy, romantic. Sign me up. Okay, so now I generate it for seven credits.
Amy
Yes, you can go ahead and generate.
Lori Siegel
Here we go. Okay. Ooh. I mean, it's a little low cut for me, Amy. It's a little. Literally, they're, like, not making eye contact.
Amy
I mean. Oh, it's funny, though. Yeah.
Lori Siegel
I mean, she looks good.
Amy
She's in a gown and a forest,
Lori Siegel
and she has a great bra on. Whatever's making that forest. Wait. This is so fun.
Amy
Yeah. So you can just keep regenerating it.
Lori Siegel
Okay, so now what do I do with this?
Amy
So you can share it as a post. Okay.
Lori Siegel
Okay. So it says I can start over, create a post. Oh, my God. Do I want to put this. Why not?
Amy
Why not?
Lori Siegel
Why not? Oh, my God, Amy, look at you helping me stretch.
Amy
Look, by the way, it's next to
Lori Siegel
my profile photo with, like, me in a shirt that's, like, basically up to my neck and shoulder pads, just FYI. Okay. But it's not real. So here we go. Next.
Amy
That's also another point. You know, it's kind of being a little bit more adventurous than you might be, than having you may dress every day.
Lori Siegel
I feel like this one's more the girlfriend experience, kind of, you know, she's
Amy
not as like, okay, here we go.
Lori Siegel
Oh, so here's my caption. I so bad at this. I literally was gonna say, like, my first time, like. And I know that's not what I meant. Help me, Amy. You're so much better at this.
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Amy
A dreamy walk.
Lori Siegel
Dreamy, dreamy walk. I can't wait to start, like, sending these to my husband John. He's gonna be like, what are you doing?
Amy
This is another day for him. Dreamy walk.
Lori Siegel
I know. Another day in the office. Out of the office, in the. Nope. Let's not try to be cheeky. All right. And now I can select my tier. Seems as though we should let this out into the wild, I think. Yeah, I'm not ready for premium yet.
Amy
Yeah.
Lori Siegel
Okay. Dreamy walk. I'm gonna go dusty. Okay. Oh, my God. Okay, here we go.
Amy
She's live.
Advertisement Voice
Wow.
Amy
She is live.
Lori Siegel
She looks good. That was fun.
Amy
I have to say. That was gorgeous.
Lori Siegel
And I would never put that out.
Amy
It's also. It's probably not something you normally wear. It's kind of that exciting thing of, like, oh, what could I look like in this?
Lori Siegel
And it's also, to your point, this is not something I would put on Instagram or, like. Or, you know, this feels like. It feels, like, a little bit different over here, which I kind of like. It's a different vibe.
Amy
It's more creative. It just kind of lets you express yourself.
Lori Siegel
Yeah. You know what I think is so interesting about this? It just feels. It feels different than some things I've seen, because it does feel like we are entering a world where there's AI slop and there's just. You don't know what's real and what's not. And there's an inevitability of AI on social media, but it feels like things have gotten really crowded and really busy, and we're not sure where the incentives are, and we're not sure what's behind it. So it certainly is interesting to see what could this space open up to? What are new opportunities in the chaos.
Amy
I appreciate that. And it's also just the transparency of knowing, like, is this AI or not? And ultimately, people don't care. They just want to know.
Lori Siegel
Well, but it is interesting. I guess my question when we started out, even with this podcast, was like. Like, are people going to care if it's AI? Like, are people going to want to interact with, you know, with an AI version of someone? And the answer, I think, is a resounding yes. And I guess the question is, how do you build guardrails around that, and what are the ethical ways to do that? And for you, it sounds like so much of that comes down to consent and transparency.
Amy
Absolutely. Consent, transparency, and control for a creator around their image, how they use it. They have full, you know, audience over how, how do I want to create AI? How do I want to show up digitally so there's nothing that's not happening. If they don't like the image, then they delete it or they generate a new one.
Lori Siegel
So give me advice on how I can make money on Violet with how my AI Lori can go to work and make money on Violet.
Amy
Well, let's finish training, training your AI chat. We're going to. Going to populate your profile, and then we'll set up some subscription tiers, and then people can jump onto Violet. They can chat with AI Lori. And they can see some of your content. Real or AI that might not be. Might not be out there for everyone.
Lori Siegel
And I guess we also have to change my tagline from curiosity, empathy to agency. Yeah, you'll help me come up with a tagline.
Amy
The Real Life of Lori.
Lori Siegel
And so what do you think? Because you have spent so much time in the creator space, what's the next cultural shift that you see coming?
Amy
I mean, Violet will be. And really, it's like, there needs to be a refresh in how people are using platforms. And a lot of times, that's what all of these public affairs conversations are leading to. What are people seeing? You look at youth and adult spaces colliding online, which is what's happening on every major social platform. Whereas we took youth out of that equation, and we are fully an adult social media platform. And that's never been in the vernacular before. It's been more like, oh, is it a creator platform? Is it something spicy? What does adult actually mean? And that's again, going back to, oh, this is where the HBO social media analogy comes in. Because we find people understand what that means. It's something for the mass market, a broader audience, but with boundaries and guardrails. Yeah.
Lori Siegel
Why is this work personal to you?
Amy
You know, it's kind of exciting to create something new that hasn't been done, hasn't been out there. I can't say, like, oh, this is a space I thought I was gonna go back into or something. I was like, you know, dreaming up for years and years. But it really happened very organically with my co founder, Kaylee, and just through our own conversations. And now it's just this true passion of, like, wait, there needs to be something different out there. And we're a platform led by women. We stand for something. We're all about transparency, putting all of our users in community first. And we've spent so much time on the foundation of the platform in terms of the safety features, you know, who are we using for age verification? How are we going to moderate the content? How do we find. Prevent these bad actors from getting in? And, you know, there's nothing that, you know, we haven't thought about, you know, and that's just not. You don't really hear about that in businesses these days. It's like, oh, how do we, you know, make the quick dollar? How do we do this? It's like we actually focused on the infrastructure, the business model. Then we're like, okay, of course we're going to have the monetization Features. But going further, like, you know, we can have advertising in the future. We can and do different things and operate in a different way that just platforms haven't done before.
Lori Siegel
When you say we stand for something, what do you stand for?
Amy
We stand for being a safe, inclusive community online, really, where anyone can be their authentic self without feeling the pressures, the trolls, just the anxieties you're getting on other platforms. That's what we don't want. We want someone to come to Violet and be like, oh, this is cool. This is where I can post this, which I don't feel comfortable sharing elsewhere.
Lori Siegel
So, last question. Where do you see Violet, like five years from now? What does the future of this platform look like?
Amy
Violet's gonna be used by everyone. You know, we see this platform just kind of taking over in terms of being used more internationally. You know, you look at the conversations around social media and that's where we feel like, again, we are on the forefront of something that, you know, we're thinking in a way that other businesses and platforms aren't thinking, where this is really much more about community, social engagement. And then we're providing the tools for those who want to be able to monetize. So that's where we just see this, like, really spreading and taking over.
Lori Siegel
Amazing. Well, you can find both me and Amy on Violet.
Amy
I do answer all my messages on
Lori Siegel
there and she answers all of her messages. If you have any feedback. So awesome. Thank you so much.
Martha
Thank you.
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Lori Siegel
So much fun.
Ryan Reynolds
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Amy
What do you mean? People hate the sound of chicken.
Ryan Reynolds
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Amy
Maybe we're saved.
Ryan Reynolds
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Amy
Yellow.
Ryan Reynolds
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Lori Siegel
So tasty.
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Amy
Guaranteed human.
Mostly Human with Laurie Segall – July 23, 2026
In this episode, host Laurie Segall interviews Amy (former CEO of OnlyFans, serial entrepreneur, and co-founder of the new platform Violet) about the evolving landscape of social media. Together, they explore whether social networks can reclaim the sense of fun, agency, and even sexiness they once promised—while leveraging new technology like AI responsibly. The discussion is rich with personal anecdotes, industry insights, and live product demos, especially centered on Violet, a new adults-only social platform aiming to blend monetization, creativity, and control with strong ethics around consent and transparency.