A Tale of Two Amanda Hirsches

I'd like to tell you a story that has to do with mistaken identity, AI, and the Dutchess of Sussex.

Last week I found out that someone who subscribes to my personal newsletter over at amandahirsch.com — let’s call her Darlene — had initially found her way to my corner of the internet thanks to a recommendation from Meghan Markle.

I’ll just let that sink in for a moment.

Of course, the problem with this story is that Meghan Markle, aka the Dutchess of Sussex, has no idea who I am. So the likelihood of her pointing people my way is, shall we say, slim.

I quickly realized what must have happened: Earlier this year, Ms. Markle was in the news in connection with a different Amanda Hirsch, one who hosts a celebrity/pop culture podcast called Not Skinny But Not Fat and has almost a million Instagram followers (I have more like 900).

All these months, Darlene was reading my newsletter and writing back to share her thoughts on my various musings, thinking she was interacting with that Amanda Hirsch.

Ok, I thought. Funny story. That’s never happened before.

And then I went to a coffee date with someone I’ll call Susan. A mutual friend had recommended that Susan and I had much in common and, now that I live in the Hudson Valley full-time, and so does she, we were practically neighbors.

Well, about ten minutes into that coffee date, I’m telling Susan the Darlene story, when she stops me and says, “Oh my god, it’s so funny you’re telling me this, because I was looking you up before we met, and I was so confused. I thought, ‘Am I having coffee with a celebrity?!’”

This incredibly intelligent person had Googled “Amanda Hirsch” and seen links to Not Skinny Not Fat intermingled with links to my website and LinkedIn profile. And she’d found herself confused: “Is this one person? Two people? What’s happening here?”

Friends, I’ve known about this other Amanda Hirsch for years, but this issue of confused identity has never come up before. I always thought it was pretty clear that we were two different people, given that we each had a pretty well-defined niche. And different faces (albeit, both of us white, with brownish/blondish hair).

But apparently, I, Amanda Hirsch, champion of people creating authentic online platforms that help them find the people who are trying to find them, have myself a very confused online footprint. That’s something I’m pondering and wondering how best to sort out.

But wait. There’s more.

As I was telling my husband Jordan these stories I just shared with you, about Darlene and Susan, I went to Google my name, to show him the mixed search results. The search box auto-populated instead with “Amanda Hirsch husband.”

Sure, I thought. What the heck, let’s see what comes up.

What came up is an article on a site called World is Round that I have since requested be taken down, and the site’s owner has complied.

What was this article, you ask?

I will tell you.

It began with a photo of me and Jordan from our 20th wedding anniversary party. The headline: Meet Amanda Hirsch’s Husband Jordan Hirsch - Her Partner in Life and Laughter.

Friends, this article proceeded to share many accurate details about Jordan’s and my life together, from the details of how we met back in high school, to the improv shows we did together, to our daughter’s name (Ali). Unfortunately, it also got a few things wrong. The biggest thing it got wrong was that it attributed the picture and the life story to the other Amanda Hirsch.

I cannot tell you how freaky it is to read an article about yourself, filled with details about your personal life — a picture even — attributed to someone else.

It was abundantly clear to me that AI had scraped this journalistic masterpiece together. In fact, the entire website it was on may be AI-generated — when I Google the supposed human behind the site, nothing comes up, which suggests to me that she is a fictional creation. I can’t know for sure.

The article referred to our beloved, deceased dog, Cosmo, as though he were alive and kicking. It also called Ali a toddler (she is a teenager). The other details were right, though, and are things I’ve shared online in different places.

This experience has raised heady questions for me about identity in a digital age, and what it means to share personal stories online in the age of AI, when they can be scraped and combined in any old way, under any old name…even your own.

And it has also strengthened my commitment to advocating for rigorous ethical guardrails governing our usage of AI.

So now, I'm curious: What does this tale of two Amandas make you think about? What does it bring up for you??