There is a fine line between uses of artificial intelligence being beneficial and harmful, and the overwhelming flood of AI slop presented to us on social media these days epitomizes the harmful side.
“AI slop” is a term generally defined as low quality, mass-produced AI generated content. Millions of people view AI generated videos and images daily on social media platforms like YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Instagram.
Some specific AI slop “series” have gained quite a bit of popularity in recent years.
For example, Italian brainrot, a series of AI generated characters with Italian-sounding names, has gained popularity across the world in many forms, such as being central characters in Roblox game “Steal-A-Brainrot,” which had a peak player count of 25.8 million as of October 2025.
Sure, most of the AI series are published online with comedic purposes, but millions of people are unfortunately hooked on AI content, and it’s hurting our population.
AI slop provides senseless distractions and usually doesn’t teach anything of real value. It is simply meant to provide a small hit of dopamine that keeps viewers latched onto their screens.
Think about younger students as well. Elementary school students are more susceptible to misinformation due to early brain plasticity, and AI generated videos are normally low quality and not fact-checked.
This is relevant because the majority of AI slop is made for kids. “Steal-A-Brainrot” is specifically designed for kids and uses AI generated characters.
YouTube kids channels such as “Baby JoJo” and “Teddy Tiny” have gained millions of views and subscribers off only AI generated nursery rhymes.
Seriously. That’s it.
According to Zero to Three, 16% of the media kids up to eight years old view are short videos such as YouTube Shorts. According to Kapwing, 21-33% of YouTube Shorts is AI generated content.
The consequences of AI slop have already caught up to us, and the newest generation of kids are paying the biggest price.
But it doesn’t mean that older audiences are safe.
On TikTok, a series of an AI generated “Love Island” parody with fruits has gained over 3 million followers in about a week.
The popularity of content that was created in mere seconds getting such high engagement online shows that our standards of entertainment and our attention spans have dramatically decreased.
There have also been times where prominent political figures post AI generated pictures of themselves on social media. This includes President Donald Trump’s recent post of himself as a healer of the nation.
The AI-generated image depicts Trump holding his hand over the forehead of a hospital patient and “healing” him with magic in a Jesus-like fashion.
These posts act as propaganda by pushing political agendas and spreading ideas that the country is thriving, even when that’s not the case. They promote false visions of the country having no flaws, influencing groups of people who don’t know any better.
Other areas where AI generation has importance are commercials.
This hurts companies because generative AI bases what it makes on previously implanted sets of images, which can lead to very avoidable mistakes.
For example, an AI generated Coca-Cola holiday commercial includes a frame misspelling the popular soda as ‘Coca-Coola’. Yes, the company’s actual name is not spelled correctly.
These ads also can show false interpretations of a product, which leads to misinformation spreading among consumers.
Finally, AI generated videos and images can be used as scams online.
They may feature a picture of an old couple closing down their store and urging people to buy, or an injured war veteran asking for money to get back on his feet.
This type of content is generally targeted toward people who have money but aren’t aware that these are scams, usually grandparents and retired people, because in their eyes, there is genuinely someone who needs help.
Obviously, there isn’t a lot we can really do about this when the majority of people who post AI generated videos post at a high volume.
But we can spread awareness to people around us who aren’t yet aware of these dangers.
We can also change what we view on social media, whether that is scrolling less in general, or just changing our algorithm to view more content that people put actual effort into creating.
AI slop can be helpful if you need a laugh or to zone out of school life every now and then, but when a second grader can’t have a genuine interaction with someone because they’re too busy consuming brainrot, something has to change.
