There's a worrying new trend happening on Instagram right now concerning a slew of pages that are using generative AI to deepfake Down syndrome onto the bodies of female influencers and models.

Their goal is to sell spicy photos and videos, using the lure of the genetic disorder to trip up people and farm the reactions of unknowing internet users. A steady stream of these videos has gone viral across social media platforms over the last few months, and the comments are always the same. Most people don't realize they've been duped.

But where are these accounts coming from? Who's making these "AI Down Syndrome Models" and why? Let's try to explain.

Where Did The 'AI Down Syndrome Models' Come From?

As far as we know, this trend started in the Big 2025, back in January. A since-deleted Instagram user allegedly named @cakedupanddown seems to be patient zero.

Her videos are gone, but a lot of dudes reposted her videos, trying to get a rise out of the inately viral concoction that uses the contradiction between Down syndrome and thirst traps.

The Downs have arrived! pic.twitter.com/r8jHY65P7W

— Sam Tripoli (@samtripoli) January 18, 2025

Who Is Making These 'AI Down Syndrome Model' Accounts?

At the moment, it's unclear who the mystery admins are behind these accounts. In some cases, it's not the women deepfaking themselves.

The most obvious example is @cakedupanddown, who was blatantly ripping videos from the real influencer and social media user @badte4cher. In one of her videos, she's seen going to the gym and light-heartedly complaining about men staring at her.

It appears that someone else deepfaked the Down syndrome onto her, although it is unknown if she's involved or not.

Regardless, this particular AI video has gone viral multiple times over as some men are seemingly obsessed with making "slow," "down" and "chromosome" puns, not thinking about the dystopian reality of what's really happening with the faked clips.

my sides have gone into orbit pic.twitter.com/77zJMjmHNi

— 𝐸𝐵 (@___eb__) March 19, 2025

Who Is 'Special Jenny,' aka 'Jennysodown?'

One AI model faking Down syndrome has gained notable search interest in particular. Her nickname is Special Jenny, but she goes by multiple aliases online like jennysodown, jennydown4whatever and jennysospecial.

Special Jenny has seemingly adopted @cakedupanddown's formula for viral success, as her account admin has multiple Instagram accounts, obviously trying to spam the provocative content as far and as wide as possible.

Like her predecessors, Special Jenny has gained numerous cross-platform reposts, especially on Twitter / X. Of course, she is also inspiring low-hanging puns.

Are you down with this? pic.twitter.com/wvUAm2k66A

— AlphaFo𝕏 (@Alphafox78) March 29, 2025

What Does The Future Hold?

After discovering this phenomenon, a lot of people are worried about the future. For one, this story largely came to light when the news outlet 404 Media covered it a few weeks ago.

404 linked the trend to so-called "AI pimping," which describes a new phenomenon of people making fake model profiles with generative tech to maximize their income on raunchy subscription sites.

YouTubers like Isaac Butterfield have also expressed concern. In his viral video on the topic, he spoke of these deepfake technologies being used for even more heinous purposes, hinting at a dark future in which the faces of children are given the body of a 21-year-old.

He spoke with his autistic sibling in his heart as he tried to grapple with the modern scenario.

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For the full history of AI Down Syndrome Models, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's entry for even more information.