By Kayla DeKraker
The internet is becoming increasingly more infiltrated with AI videos, and concerningly, even a trained eye can hardly notice the difference between AI and reality.
Take this cute video of a toddler and her puppies getting into a mess. It looks like a real home video, right? However, it is completely AI generated.
“Once it’s out there, once people view it and comment on it and take it with them, it’s hard to go back on it. The harm is there,” said security expert Ayana Weissenfluh of AI content.
Related: Why AI Has Taken Over Your Facebook Feed—and How to Stop It
She noted that if you look really closely, you might be able to tell a video is AI.
“A lot of AI-created videos, especially with people involved, their movements are off, or even animals,” she explained.
What is even more concerning is that AI reels and posts seem to be driving viewership up, not down. One of the clearest signals of AI’s takeover is Meta’s own data: time spent on Instagram surged by 24% after the platform introduced AI-powered recommendations for Reels. These AI systems suggest content tailored to user tastes, encouraging more engagement with short-form video than ever before.
In 2023, Meta CFO Susan Li shared excitement over the engagement that AI videos bring.
“We’re very pleased with what we’ve seen Reels drive in terms of incremental engagement on the platform so far…it’s clear that people value short-term video,” she said.
AI content is taking over Facebook reels as well, and Movieguide® previously reported on how you can avoid this.
Even those in the tech industry are expressing concern over “AI Slop.”
“AI was supposed to be about developing intelligence, instead they’re spending tens of billions of dollars to make it churn out cat videos so we’re more dumbed down by social media,” said Arnaud Bertrand, investor and cofounder of HouseTrip.
Railway founder Jake Cooper said of AI reels “AI can and should be used for good/A partner in craft, allowing us to move faster to go farther,” he wrote. “It can also be used for evil/To hook you an infinite IV of cheap crap/Let’s choose the former please.”
But since AI videos capture views, social media algorithms will keep suggesting the content.
“If you, as a user, are interested in a piece of content which happens to be AI-generated, the recommendations algorithm will determine that, over time, you are interested in this topic and content,” Jagjit Chawla, Facebook’s vice president of product, said.
He added, “If you are not into it, which, for lack of a better term, there is a set of users who would consider that content AI slop, and if you have given us signals that this is not for you, that algorithm will respond appropriately to make sure we don’t show you more of that.”
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like AI slop is going anywhere soon.
Read Next: Why AI Has Yet to Have Its Humor Watershed Moment
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