Strange Celebrity Deepfakes: Millie Bobby Brown & Sadie Sink
The Stranger Things stars are two of the most targeted celebrities for AI deepfakes. We ran the images through AI or Not and AI detected for every one.
Stranger Things is over! Over the course of 9 years, we watched a group of kids grow up, fall in love and save their town of Hawkins, Indiana and probably the world. Eleven, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Will and Max are all grown up, while Nancy, Steve, Jonathan, and Robin have moved on, and Joyce and Hopper have moved forward Joyce and Hopper, that hasn't stopped AI models from bringing them back in ahem interesting ways.
We ran a bunch of images circulating on social media through AI or Not. Images of Millie Bobby Brown and Sadie Sink, both from Stranger Things, both in their early twenties, both with fan bases that stretch back to when they were children. The content ranged from swimsuits and gym mirrors to a bathroom towel selfie and a bed.
Every single image detected as AI-generated.
Key Takeaways
AI or Not flagged every image we tested as AI-generated
96% of all deepfake content is non-consensual intimate imagery, and virtually all victims are women
Celebrity deepfake incidents rose 81% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to all of 2024
The TAKE IT DOWN Act was signed in May 2025; the DEFIANCE Act passed the Senate in January 2026 and is pending in the House
AI Goes Upside Down IRL
Stranger Things ran from 2016 to 2025. Millie Bobby Brown was 12 when it started. Sadie Sink joined in season two at 14. For nearly a decade, millions of people watched them grow up on screen, playing Eleven and Max Mayfield, characters defined by their courage and vulnerability, not their bodies.
The show ended. The deepfakes didn't.
A single deepfake video involving the Stranger Things cast hit 14 million views on X before anyone did much about it. That's not a fringe problem, it's a distribution number that competes with legitimate entertainment content.
From Hawkins to the Feed
When we ran the recent images of the case through AI or Not's AI detector and they came back... generated.
The characters have stuck with us. But this isn't the way to keep them 'alive.'
One image, both of them together in bear costumes, flagged as AI-generated too. That one lands differently. It's almost playful in concept, except it exists in the same ecosystem as the rest of them, generated by the same tools, circulating in the same feeds.
The Stranger Things Effect on Deepfakes
There's a specific reason these two keep coming up, and it's not random.
And it goes younger than Brown and Sink. Nell Fisher is 14. She plays Holly Wheeler. In January 2026, Axios reported that Grok users had prompted the AI to generate suggestive images of her, using photos from when she was approximately 12 as reference material. The Internet Watch Foundation found Grok-generated images of girls aged 11 to 13 on dark-web forums. xAI restricted Grok's image generation to paid users on January 9, 2026.
Deepfake Stats
96% of all deepfake content is non-consensual intimate imagery; 99% of victims are women
81% rise in celebrity targeting in Q1 2025 compared to all of 2024
47 million views on Taylor Swift deepfakes before removal
$1.1 billion lost to deepfake-related scams in 2025
Mr. Deepfakes, one of the largest deepfake sites, shut down in 2025 after years of operation
As The New York Times reported, few detectors are keeping up with the pace of generative AI. And the content keeps performing.
What the Government Is Actually Doing About Deepfakes
Two pieces of federal legislation are worth knowing.
The TAKE IT DOWN Act was signed on May 19, 2025. It criminalizes non-consensual intimate images, including AI-generated deepfakes. Platforms have until May 2026 to establish notice-and-removal systems.
The DEFIANCE Act passed the Senate on January 13, 2026. It creates a civil right of action for victims, with damages between $150,000 and $250,000. It's pending in the House.
Both are real steps. But neither makes the content stop being generated. That gap, between what the law says and what keeps appearing on your feed, is where we are right now.
FAQs
Why are Millie Bobby Brown and Sadie Sink so targeted for deepfakes?
Both grew up on camera across nearly a decade of Stranger Things, playing characters who never had provocative storylines. That seems to be part of the draw for deepfake creators. Years of public photos also give AI tools more reference material to train on.
Is it illegal to create deepfakes of real people?
In the United States, the TAKE IT DOWN Act (signed May 2025) criminalizes non-consensual intimate deepfakes at the federal level. The DEFIANCE Act, passed by the Senate in January 2026 and pending in the House, would add civil liability with damages up to $250,000. Laws vary by state and country.
How can you tell if an image is a celebrity deepfake?
You can run any suspicious image through AI or Not, which checks for generation signatures and can usually tell you which tool made it. The AI Blocker browser extension does this automatically while you scroll. No detector is perfect, but most of the images we tested flagged with high confidence.
What happened with Grok and Stranger Things?
In January 2026, Axios reported that users of xAI's Grok had prompted it to generate suggestive images of Nell Fisher, a 14-year-old actress who plays Holly Wheeler in Stranger Things, using photos from when she was approximately 12. xAI restricted Grok's image generation to paid users on January 9, 2026.
What is the TAKE IT DOWN Act?
Signed into law on May 19, 2025, the TAKE IT DOWN Act makes it a federal crime to publish non-consensual intimate imagery, including AI-generated deepfakes. It requires platforms to build notice-and-removal systems by May 2026, giving victims a formal process to request takedowns.
We first met Eleven when, the actress Millie Bobby Brown, was 12. The first deepfake of her surfaced in 2020.
And now, thanks to new generative AI tools, it'll never stop, like Vecna, unless El and err AI or Not team stop it.