# What? No. I Am a Real Person
A 2013 recorded phone call with a glitchy telemarketer who insists she is human spawned a decade-long audio meme after TIME magazine published the clip. By 2023, the robotic denial fueled a TikTok lip dub trend where creators mouthed the words through uncanny valley filters.
## Origin
On December 9th, 2013, SoundCloud user zekejmiller uploaded a recording captured by TIME Washington Bureau Chief Michael Scherer during a call with a health insurance telemarketer[2]. The following day, December 10th, TIME ran the piece "Meet the Robot Telemarketer Who Denies She's A Robot," compiling calls from several reporters who each tried to get the bot, which identified itself as "Samantha West," to admit it was synthetic[1]. The bot deflected with canned laughter and the line "What? No. I am a real person," and refused on demand to repeat "I am not a robot."
On December 13th, 2013, YouTuber Luso reposted the audio, where it collected over 300,000 views across the next decade[4]. The recording itself drew more than 777,000 plays on SoundCloud over the same period[2].
- **Platform:** SoundCloud / TIME (viral spread via TikTok)
- **Creator:** Unknown
- **Date:** 2013
## Overview
What? No. I Am a Real Person refers to a short audio exchange in which a female-voiced health insurance robocaller flatly denies being a robot when a reporter asks her directly[1]. The bot's cheerful, laugh-tracked insistence that she is human, paired with a point-blank refusal to say the phrase "I'm not a robot," turned the clip into shorthand for creepy automated calls and, later, for anything acting suspiciously non-human[2].
In its modern form, the audio powers two main video styles. Animators sync character faces to the dialogue so the robot's lines come out of fictional stand-ins, while TikTok creators mouth the words themselves, typically layering uncanny valley or deepfake filters so their faces glitch and stretch mid-sentence[3][5]. The joke works because the voice already sounds almost right but subtly off, so any visual that drifts into the uncanny valley lands with the audio.
## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is What? No. I Am a Real Person?
It is a viral audio clip of a health insurance robocaller insisting she is human, taken from a 2013 recording published by TIME magazine[1].
### Where did What? No. I Am a Real Person come from?
SoundCloud user zekejmiller uploaded the recording of TIME reporter Michael Scherer's call on December 9th, 2013, and it ran in TIME the next day[2][1].
### What does What? No. I Am a Real Person mean?
The line is the bot's deflection when asked if she is real, and it works as shorthand for anything acting suspiciously automated or uncanny[1].
### How do you use What? No. I Am a Real Person?
Creators typically either animate characters mouthing the audio or lip-sync it themselves on TikTok, often under an uncanny valley or glitch filter[3][9].
### Is What? No. I Am a Real Person still popular?
The audio saw a major TikTok resurgence through 2023, with lip dubs by @blondeicedcoffee and @kaisokol.official pulling tens of millions of views[9][8].
## References
1. [https://newsfeed.time.com/2013/12/10/meet-the-robot-telemarketer-who-denies-shes-a-robot/]()
2. [https://soundcloud.com/zekejmiller/new-recording-68]()
3. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajWiDZdmJ10]()
4. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22ZaKbxmEMA]()
5. [https://www.tiktok.com/@spacecatfromzolar/video/7210131190265810177]()
6. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7gpThNawyU]()
7. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtMM-26MEpw]()
8. [https://www.tiktok.com/@kaisokol.official/video/7270550434249542958]()
9. [https://www.tiktok.com/@blondeicedcoffee/video/7300782669829328134]()
10. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/what-no-i-am-a-real-person]()
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Source: https://meme.com/memes/what-no-i-am-a-real-person
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