Blog: The Lily Jay Foundation – A Case Study in Why You Should Do Your Research…

Unless y’all are familiar with my channel or have run into the Muslim community online, you have probably never heard of an influencer named Lily Jay. So, here’s an explanation.

Lily Jay is an Australian influencer who originally gained recognition as an actress, singer, and dancer. However, she blew up online when she announced that she had converted to Islam and began using ChatGPT to prove that Islam was true. Of course, everything she claims about Islam is easily debunkable and her actual conversion journey is so confusing and all over the place that there’s doubt about if she’s a real Muslim, but she’s gained great renown in the online dawah scene.

But if she’s not known for her dawah (Muslim evangelism), she’s known for her humanitarian efforts, primarily through her foundation, the Lily Jay Foundation. The Lily Jay Foundation is “a next-generation social enterprise and high-speed humanitarian logistics firm executing rapid aid deployment in global crisis zones. To maintain absolute speed and independence, we operate as a private commercial structure, rather than traditional charity models.” The main places it claims to operate are Sudan and Gaza, though it’s also operates elsewhere, such as in Uganda and Nepal. The services provided to these communities are water and Quran distribution, orphan care, animal sacrifices, and mosque building.

Now, some of this would sound good since its humanitarian care, but in a recent investigation by ABC NEWS Verify, it was revealed that the Lily Jay Foundation is a total scam built on AI.

The investigation started with a video from the Lily Jay where she’s standing in front of some African kids celebrating the opening of an orphanage in Uganda. While convincing at first, if you pay close attention to the video, there are some telltale signs that it’s fake. First, one of the windows in the orphanage moves. The children’s fingers are also distorted in some shots, and the Lily Jay Foundation sign moves, appearing once, then disappearing entirely. In another shot, a Lily Jay Foundation worker’s shirt had an extra “L” added to “Lily.” Honestly, the more I watched the video over, the more I began to notice how almost waxy the AI Lily Jay looked. She looked too perfect compared to her other videos to the point where I started getting uncanny valley vibes from her.

This video wasn’t the only thing that was AI generated or edited. In another video, Jay celebrates a food truck rolling into Gaza, and for a moment, the superimposed Lily Jay Foundation banner flashes over her hand. She also had two images of her supposedly receiving an award for humanitarian efforts in a press release, but when analyzed, it was found that both pictures were generated using ChatGPT thanks to a watermark imbedded in the picture.

Other problems abound with Jay’s foundation, ranging from the fact that her orphanage in Uganda and a bakery in Gaza, don’t appear to exist, and she’s about as transparent as a brick wall about where the money goes.

This, unfortunately, is the type of behavior that should make anyone wary about giving to any charity and it’s not just found in Muslim communities. Whether it’s Lily Jay using AI to make videos for her foundation or it’s Victor Marx making claims that are impossible to prove, the scammers are out there posing as charities solely to get your money. If anything has been learned from this post, it should be that no matter who you are, you should always do your research first before sending money anywhere.

Until next time,

M.J.