# Furkan Mind — full content (English, AI-translated from Turkish originals) Author: Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz (@mfurkanyilmazzz). Canonical source: https://furkanmind.com. License: CC BY 4.0. --- # Why weird-looking AI influencers work - Author: Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz (@mfurkanyilmazzz) - Canonical: https://furkanmind.com/en/mind/why-weird-looking-ai-influencers-work - Status: Testing (testing) - Topic: Social media analyses (https://furkanmind.com/en/topics/sosyal-medya-analizleri) - Published: 2026-10-06 - Updated: 2026-10-06 - Language: en (translated from tr) - License: CC BY 4.0 - Note: AI translation of Furkan's Turkish original (Claude via MCP) — not yet reviewed. ## Thesis These characters don't work because they look good or real. They work because they break the familiar luxury influencer template with an absurd face and are made to be sent to a friend with "look at this". Their real metric is shares, not likes. ## Summary ## What I saw On the night of 5 October 2026, three videos came up back to back on Reels. All three were the same kind: a cartoon-like face in a realistic, luxurious scene. | Account | Scene | Likes | Comments | Reposts | Shares | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | maham.iha | Purple jacket, steps out of a Rolls-Royce and walks in front of a hotel ("Don't judge by appearances") | 76.1K | 7,282 | 2,726 | 138K | | sirdonjeesus | Running in a vest, escorted by bodyguards and a G-Class ("Today's run with the boys") | 47K | 832 | 1,102 | 95.5K | | higgsfield.ai | A blonde bob-haired character dancing at a party (an ad for the tool) | 9,995 | 2,046 | 211 | 2,254 | Then I looked at the whole trend: its pioneer Jean Phil, the copies, the imitators. Screenshots and charts are below, in the raw layers. ## I talked about it on video I also told this story in an 8-minute video: [Bu garip yapay zeka influencer'larını neden izliyoruz?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj8kmyx76q0) (6 October 2026, 21:00, in Turkish). Six short clips came out of it and will land on the channel over the next few days. ## The most striking number: shares beat likes In a normal reel, shares stay far below likes. Here maham.iha's shares are about 1.8 times the likes, and sirdonjeesus's are 2 times. People don't like these videos, they send them to someone. For comparison, Higgsfield's own ad reel: the same kind of character, but shares are a quarter of likes. Once it's obviously an ad, nobody sends it to a friend. Less than 1% of the people who watched maham.iha's 20-million-view video liked it. The video grew by being sent, not by being liked. ## Why it's funny 1. **Breaking the pattern.** Luxury car, hotel entrance, suit. The brain expects a familiar template. When a bowl-cut, long-nosed man steps out, the expectation breaks in half a second and the scrolling stops. 2. **Harmless violation.** Psychology calls this a benign violation: a rule is broken but nobody gets hurt. That's exactly where the laugh comes from. 3. **Cartoonish, not creepy.** Faces that are too close to real are unsettling. These are deliberately exaggerated. Comments keep comparing them to Wallace & Gromit and Lord Farquaad. On Jean Phil's biggest video, the most-liked comment is a Wallace & Gromit frame with 224K likes. 4. **Seriousness.** The character never smiles. The viewer completes the joke and then wants to show that joke to someone else. 5. **Status parody.** What people are really laughing at is influencer culture itself. It mocks the "watch my rich life" videos. The viewer feels above the show. ## Why it gets sent 1. **High arousal.** According to Berger and Milkman's study of 7,000 New York Times articles, emotions that get people moving increase sharing, sadness reduces it. "What is this" is exactly that kind of emotion. 2. **What you send isn't the video, it's "I thought of you".** Sending memes to friends now has a name: pebbling. It comes from penguins bringing pebbles to the ones they love. A weird character video is perfect for it. It needs no explanation, no language, offends nobody and gets a sure reaction. 3. **The sender wins too.** The "I found this first" feeling. What you share says something about you as well. 4. **The platform rewards it.** Instagram head Adam Mosseri said openly that one of the most important ranking signals is "how many of the people who saw it sent it by DM". So this isn't hacking the algorithm, it's giving the algorithm exactly what it wants. ## But it burns out fast Jean Phil's 10 videos got 14.9 million, 9.1 million and 36.6 million views in a row, then dropped fast. The last two are around 500K. - 18-20 September: ~64.7 million - 21-24 September: ~12.9 million - 27 September-2 October: ~2.2 million Once the joke is understood, the surprise is gone. When the surprise is gone, the "I found it first" feeling goes too, and the sending stops. While it fell, the copy maham.iha, opened 11 days later, went from 5 million to 20 million. 170K followers in 8 days. Attention migrates from character to character. The copies ride the same wave in less time. sirdonjeesus started at 9.7 million and fell to 367K within two days. The video after maham.iha's 20-million hit stopped at 5.8 million. ## Are they real people? **maham.iha and sirdonjeesus are not real people, and I can prove it.** The biggest video of each is the same dance studio video. Same cones, same mirror, same camera move, even the same length: 10.12 seconds. The child dancer stays as is in one version and is turned into a character in the other. The method: take a real video someone else shot and turn the person in it into another character with AI. The movement is real, so it looks natural. The character doesn't exist. **I couldn't confirm Jean Phil.** A real man in a wig and suit showed up on a British Kick streamer's stream, and clips spread saying he "proved he's real". But that man is most likely an impersonator. There is an account selling Cameos as Jean Phil, using the original's profile photo, opened two weeks after the viral moment, with 598 followers, and one of its videos references that streamer. Who is behind the original account is unknown. News outlets say AI, but there's no hard technical proof. The most likely explanation is the same method as the others: real footage with an AI-altered look on top. The uncertainty itself is fuel. The "real or AI" question fills the comments, produces reaction videos and makes money for imitators. ## Why the copies are so fast - A real motion video and an AI tool are enough. No need to film the character from scratch. - sirdonjeesus posted about 24 videos in 3 days. Most got 100-800K views, two got 3.7 and 9.7 million. - The "jean phil" search is almost entirely copies, reactions and "make money with AI influencers, message me on Discord" videos. - People chase the genre, not the character. A new copy gets into the attention channel the original opened, for free. - There's a money incentive. Jean Phil's bio originally had a meme coin link, and on 25 September its market cap showed 8.8 million dollars. That link is gone today. His rival Archibald Brown got a coin too. ## What I take from it - Content used to need a face, a camera, a location. Now an idea and a character are enough. They even take the movement from someone else's video. - Look at a piece of content's share rate, not its likes. Content designed around "will someone send this" behaves completely differently. - This engine burns out very fast. What's built on surprise ends when the surprise ends. What lasts isn't the character, it's the hand that can produce this pattern again and again. - What entertains the viewer and what makes the money are not the same thing. ## What really gets me thinking **Why do we watch these?** My screen time goes up to 4 hours too, 1-1.5 hours of it social media. We consume everything by scrolling, and the level of absurdity goes up a little every day just to stop us. Is the rising low quality a result of this habit, or is supply and demand broken? **Are we heading to a dead internet?** In my review of Umut, I concluded he was loved because he was himself and didn't play a role. If AI can do this and people aren't looking for sincerity, that argument gets shaky. We may be heading to an internet where only AIs talk to and engage with each other. Are real engagement and value disappearing, or are they just changing shape? I don't know yet. I'm watching. ## Open questions - Can maham.iha keep its followers a month from now? I'll check again in a month. - Who is behind Jean Phil? - Would a local version of this format work in Turkey? - These trends are new, with no earlier example. What will the next wave of absurdity look like? ## Sources - Dexerto, "Who is Jean Phil?" (25 Sep 2026): https://www.dexerto.com/tiktok/who-is-jean-phil-ai-character-behind-multimillion-dollar-meme-coin-sparks-fake-persona-trend-3412528/ - Search Engine Journal, Mosseri and sends per reach: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/instagram-algorithm-shift-why-sends-matter-more-than-ever/521389/ - McGraw & Warren (2010), Benign Violations: https://leeds-faculty.colorado.edu/mcgrawp/pdf/mcgraw.warren.2010.pdf - Berger & Milkman (2012), What Makes Online Content Viral?: https://faculty.wharton.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Virality.pdf - Yahoo, pebbling: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/always-sending-memes-to-your-loved-ones-its-called-pebbling-heres-why-experts-say-the-trend-has-its-pros-and-cons-100021620.html - Know Your Meme, Jean Philanthrope: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/jean-philanthrope-jean-phil - LADbible, Jean Phil and his rival (30 Sep 2026): https://ladbible.com/news/ai-generated-social-media-videos-jean-phil-rival-433454-20260930 - TechCrunch, Higgsfield at a 1.3 billion dollar valuation (15 Jan 2026): https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/15/ai-video-startup-higgsfield-founded-by-ex-snap-exec-lands-1-3b-valuation - Data: Instagram profile and reel pages, morning of 6 October 2026 ## Distributions - YouTube @Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj8kmyx76q0 - YouTube @Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL8xF9XH1qI - YouTube @Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxIXvA09AQc - YouTube @Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7YlqyDUyGw - YouTube @Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU6LV2kOOHo - YouTube @Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kia_uPZGV20 - YouTube @Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LFjVlo6kLA --- # Boredom therapy: 626 minutes of doing nothing - Author: Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz (@mfurkanyilmazzz) - Canonical: https://furkanmind.com/en/mind/boredom-therapy-626-minutes-of-doing-nothing - Status: Testing (testing) - Published: 2026-10-05 - Updated: 2026-10-06 - Language: en (translated from tr) - License: CC BY 4.0 - Note: AI translation of Furkan's Turkish original (Claude via MCP) — not yet reviewed. ## Thesis When I sit long enough to get bored, with no outside input at all, my mind first cleans up, then it produces. ## Summary A method my therapist suggested: sit on your own, with no outside input, long enough to get bored. No screen, no music, no cigarette, no coffee. I didn't invent the idea, I'm the one trying it out. While working on the open tab problem, I noticed I hadn't truly been bored in months. On 7 September I started with 10 minutes and increased the time every day. Two seasons, 16 sessions, **626 minutes** in total. I started with 10 minutes and finished with 60. I filmed every session and wrote about it day by day on Threads. It isn't meditation. In meditation you manage your attention. I do the opposite, I don't manage it at all. What happens when the mind gets bored: that's the experiment. ## 10 things I learned 1. **Time stretches.** On day one the last 28 seconds wouldn't end. On day 15 I sat for 55 minutes and didn't even notice. 2. **The mind cleans up first, then produces.** Tired days went to cleaning, rested days rained ideas. The order never changed. 3. **Ideas don't come when called, they come when there's room.** On the days I forced it, nothing came. An idea from a session I left empty is now a working product: Threads Studio. 4. **An empty mind switches to detail mode.** The thread on the armchair, the dust on the floor, the cars on the hill. They were always there, I just didn't see them. 5. **The body relaxes before the mind.** First days: leaning forward, hands clasped. Last days: leaning back. The camera saw it, not me. 6. **After 40 minutes, sleep and dream-like images arrive.** Duration isn't the only factor, tiredness and starting state decide it. 7. **The sense of time depends on the place.** At the office I could tell the last minute without looking at a clock. At home I thought it was over with 9 minutes left. 8. **My boredom threshold changed.** Plane, hotel, wedding, airport queue, 40 minutes in traffic. I didn't get bored in any of them. My sleep settled. It helped my patience most. 9. **Focus came back.** I can sit with one topic for an hour. 10. **The ideal duration is 20-30 minutes.** 60 is a nice symbol but needlessly long. Above 40 it turns into something else. ## What it didn't fix I thought my screen time had dropped. According to my phone, it hadn't: around 5 hours a day, almost unchanged through the experiment. What changed is the need to reach for the phone. In a queue or in traffic I don't reach for it anymore. But when I do, I still scroll. The experiment didn't fix that, it only changed how it feels. ## The dose isn't for everyone The most common objection: "If you were a mother, married, working, you wouldn't find the time." 40-50 minutes isn't for everyone, that dose is my own invention. My therapist starts clients on the same method at 5 minutes and adds a minute or two as they get used to it. We tried 5 minutes as a family. Start with 5 minutes. The rest follows. ## I didn't do it alone I ran 6 polls, and twice the followers set the direction. The rules of not looking at the timer and setting an alarm came from the comments, and the second season grew out of a follower's block suggestion. A follower also wrote its scientific name: the Default Mode Network. The experiment is over, the habit stays: 20-30 minutes every day. ## Distributions - LinkedIn @muhammed-furkan-yilmaz: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/muhammed-furkan-yilmaz_day-2-of-the-boredom-experiment-15-minutes-activity-7502974943731609601-y1IQ — views 0, likes 0, replies 0 - LinkedIn @muhammed-furkan-yilmaz: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/muhammed-furkan-yilmaz_last-week-i-closed-18-windows-on-my-mac-activity-7502732428697042945-4O5h — views 0, likes 0, replies 0 - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7511658935548968960/ — views 0, likes 0, replies 0 - Threads @mfurkanyilmazzz: https://www.threads.com/@mfurkanyilmazzz/post/Dd69I1WkZO1 - Threads @mfurkanyilmazzz: https://www.threads.com/@mfurkanyilmazzz/post/Dd4YcQPgApb - Threads @mfurkanyilmazzz: https://www.threads.com/@mfurkanyilmazzz/post/Dd0pubHDTcR - Threads @mfurkanyilmazzz: https://www.threads.com/@mfurkanyilmazzz/post/DdrgXIDjO2- - Threads @mfurkanyilmazzz: https://www.threads.com/@mfurkanyilmazzz/post/DdmUPbAD97N - Threads @mfurkanyilmazzz: https://www.threads.com/@mfurkanyilmazzz/post/Ddo7j-bDHjc - Threads @mfurkanyilmazzz: https://www.threads.com/@mfurkanyilmazzz/post/DdjwsmvD1lP - Threads @mfurkanyilmazzz: https://www.threads.com/@mfurkanyilmazzz/post/DdW6FKtEqP1 - Threads @mfurkanyilmazzz: https://www.threads.com/@mfurkanyilmazzz/post/DdRwZgTgit9 - Threads @mfurkanyilmazzz: https://www.threads.com/@mfurkanyilmazzz/post/DdKCE-ygTsw - Threads @mfurkanyilmazzz: https://www.threads.com/@mfurkanyilmazzz/post/DdHdRyJAS9t - Threads @mfurkanyilmazzz: https://www.threads.com/@mfurkanyilmazzz/post/DdE4g6rCaTe - Threads @mfurkanyilmazzz: https://www.threads.com/@mfurkanyilmazzz/post/DdCTocUEwz0 - Threads @mfurkanyilmazzz: https://www.threads.com/@mfurkanyilmazzz/post/Dc_u0W2AZzg - Threads @mfurkanyilmazzz: https://www.threads.com/@mfurkanyilmazzz/post/DdUVL6JE1Ub - Threads @mfurkanyilmazzz: https://www.threads.com/@mfurkanyilmazzz/post/DdZe3ghE0zi - Threads @mfurkanyilmazzz: https://www.threads.com/@mfurkanyilmazzz/post/Dd9h62zD9Qb ## Linked nodes - → extends → Open tabs: the focus disease of the AI era (acik-sekmeler-yapay-zeka-caginin-odak-hastaligi): Running five or six jobs at once with AI feels like power, but it turns into being inside none of them, while the thing that actually adds value is depth. — https://furkanmind.com/en/mind/open-tabs-the-focus-disease-of-the-ai-era --- # Open tabs: the focus disease of the AI era - Author: Muhammed Furkan Yılmaz (@mfurkanyilmazzz) - Canonical: https://furkanmind.com/en/mind/open-tabs-the-focus-disease-of-the-ai-era - Status: Testing (testing) - Published: 2026-10-05 - Updated: 2026-10-06 - Language: en (translated from tr) - License: CC BY 4.0 - Note: AI translation of Furkan's Turkish original (Claude via MCP) — not yet reviewed. ## Thesis Running five or six jobs at once with AI feels like power, but it turns into being inside none of them, while the thing that actually adds value is depth. ## Summary In early September I watched myself for two weeks. During the day I was running 5-6 jobs at once with AI, firing orders at agents. They were all working, and I kept opening new ones. It feels like a godlike power. But while everything moved forward at the same time, I wasn't inside any of it. I call this the **open tab problem**. The scrolling age already ate the focus of our daily lives. Now it's work's turn. There's one difference: on social media someone else broke our attention. At work we break it with our own hands. And we think we're being productive. Firing orders speeds up the work in front of me. Deciding what is worth doing, though, takes depth. And depth doesn't come out of a split mind. The real issue isn't speed, it's direction. Speed goes the wrong way just as fast. I have nothing against AI, I use it every day. But while we became conductors, I think we forgot how to read music. ## The experiment: single focus I set myself three rules. Before work starts, the day's topics go into a notebook. No new work gets squeezed in, and I don't get up until the job is done. When a job is done, every tab and window gets closed. On the first day I finished only 3 of 6 goals. Still, it was my best working day in months, because two things came out: - **The work I was avoiding became visible.** Normally I'd say "I ran out of time" and move on. The work actually fit in the day. I just didn't want to do it. - **I got bored.** I hadn't truly been bored in months. The moment I got bored, solutions started coming. One more observation: my brain doesn't get tired switching between related tasks. What wears it out is jumping back and forth, with no gap, between unrelated topics. ## End of the first week My average went up to 4 jobs. One evening I sat down at 17:27 and got up at 18:40: the most tired hour of the day, one sitting, one job. A week earlier I couldn't do that. The real change wasn't the number. My connection to the work I produce came back. When I stay on one topic, the work stops being "output" and becomes a result I made. I had forgotten the pleasure of finishing. Speed on its own is a trap. AI gives everyone the same speed. The difference is no longer in getting the work out, it's in deciding which work is the right work. The new era doesn't need someone who rides horses faster, it needs the one who comes up with the idea of a car. The second discovery, getting bored, led me to the next experiment: boredom therapy. ## Distributions - Threads @mfurkanyilmazzz: https://www.threads.com/@mfurkanyilmazzz/post/DdMcW7vjyjB - Threads @mfurkanyilmazzz: https://www.threads.com/@mfurkanyilmazzz/post/Dc4CQA_D10s - Threads @mfurkanyilmazzz: https://www.threads.com/@mfurkanyilmazzz/post/Dc1dZPXjzUV ## Linked nodes - ← extended by ← Boredom therapy: 626 minutes of doing nothing (sikilma-terapisi-626-dakika-hicbir-sey-yapmamak): When I sit long enough to get bored, with no outside input at all, my mind first cleans up, then it produces. — https://furkanmind.com/en/mind/boredom-therapy-626-minutes-of-doing-nothing