Your AI Marketing Internship Might Be Illegal

"And I just found this website..." - you close the video. But you already watched the first ten seconds, which was the whole point.

If you’ve been on studytok*, you’ve seen these videos using all the same templates: “If you are student using chatgpt, you are falling behind”, or someone doing the “study tips they don’t want you to know” format, or the newer variant that’s been circulating lately - “my dad is a Harvard professor and here are the techniques he uses in his curriculum”. The Harvard dad one is my personal favorite because what a coincidence that all these studytokers have a dad at Harvard. All of them happen to use Turbo AI in their Ivy League-level curriculum... But the main problem with all of this is that these are undisclosed ads.

I used to be on the other side of this. For a period, I worked as an influencer manager for one of these startups. My job was essentially to coordinate creators and get content out. The rule of disguising the video as an “honest take” was never written in bold in the rules, but everyone understood the assignment. The whole value of this kind of marketing is that it doesn’t feel like marketing. You brief creators to make it feel like a personal discovery.

And if you think collaborations with 4 or 5 TikTokers won't cause any harm; let me tell you that a single startup hires from 20 to 100 creators just for this. And each one of them is producing videos like these daily, cross-posting on multiple platforms. Do the math for yourself.

The apps running these campaigns right now are mostly variations on the same thing: Anara, StudyFetch, Cluely, Turbo AI. They are AI study tools that promise to summarize your lectures, create your flashcards, and get you through finals with less effort. And a lot of them (especially the earlier ones) built their audiences through the same creator networks cycling through slightly different scripts for different products (shoutout to Bay Area ABBs and ABGs**).

Via Silverman, C. 2025. https://indicator.media/p/thousands-of-undisclosed-ads-tiktok-ai-study-apps-jenni-mindgrasp

The thing is, these tools aren’t necessarily useless. Some of them are fine. But a lot of them are essentially ChatGPT with a nicer interface, charging a subscription for something you could do yourself for free. The marketing, though... It’s a much easier pitch when it’s disguised as peer advice.

However, the problem’s root is not merely annoyance. It also has serious legal implications. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires influencers to disclose paid partnerships. But who is actually putting their name and face on the illegal ad? A 19-year-old student who is just trying to make extra money and get some marketing experience (you know you can’t decline any opportunity in the current job market...). And if your growth strategy depends on students crossing legal lines for you, your company is clearly doing something wrong.

Well, the irony of this is that viewers already figured out the manipulation and are openly calling out the companies (an influx of Harvard dads on TikTok would eventually make you suspicious). They can call it a marketing internship, a “going viral” strategy, or genuine advice. But if it walks and talks like an undisclosed ad, it probably is one.

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*Studytok is TikTok content on education and study tips.

**ABB (Asian Baby Boy) and ABG (Asian Baby Girl) are informal community terms, referring to a specific aesthetic and social archetype common among young Asian Americans (particularly in California). The terms are widely used within the community itself.