AI-generated slop will explode in 2025: NPR

Scott Detrow, host:

2025 was a big year for artificial intelligence, especially the short AI-generated videos people post online. The kids call it the AI ​​slop, and NPR's Jeff Brumfield and Shannon Bond have spent most of the year inside it. Here are the highlights and their meanings. Hey everyone.

SHANNON BOND, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.

JEFF BRUMFIEL, BYLINE: Oh, yeah.

DETROW: (Laughter) So today we're going to talk about three fake videos (ph). All of these are widely shared online. Shannon, let’s start with you. What will be the first slop entry?

BOND: Well, back in October – this was a Saturday. It was one of those big No King protests days. – Against the Trump administration. President Trump posted a video of himself piloting an AI-generated fighter jet. King Trump is written on the side of the jet. He is wearing a crown. He flew over a city full of protesters and dumped what looked like poop on them. You've probably seen it before.

DETROW: That's true.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG “DANGER ZONE”)

KENNY ROGGINS: (Singing) Highway to Danger Zone.

BOND: And the video is set to the song “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins. As a side note, Loggins is not happy about his music being used in this video. He requested it be removed in October. It hasn't been removed since. Now, this video is obviously fake, right? For example, I don't think anyone watches this movie thinking that Trump is really flying a fighter jet. And we've seen presidents share AI videos and images before. In fact, he did it frequently during the 2024 campaign. He and his supporters seem to love these kinds of memes.

But since he took office this year, this kind of strategy is something that we've actually seen the entire administration, not just the president, employ. Social media accounts for the White House and the Department of Homeland Security often post these types of meme videos and images created by AI. With midterm elections coming up next year, we should expect to see more AI-generated political content across our feeds.

DETROW: I mean, Shannon, this is very prevalent. We see Trump and his allies increasingly giving this back. What is the White House saying about the use of almost propaganda videos that they are creating with AI?

BOND: Yeah, it should be – it should be obvious – it's not necessarily clear whether the White House itself or the White House staff is creating this. In some cases, like this fighter jet video, we see presidential and government accounts resharing content created by others online. The White House doesn't tend to comment on these specific videos, but it has said things in the past about this social media approach in general: Memes are here to stay. I think they clearly think this is the type of message that will resonate with their audience. And, you know, this is a very online administration. This is a very online president. And this is – you know, they're working very hard on the language of what's online now, and that's increasingly becoming AI.

DETROW: That's the first trend we're talking about. Let's move on to video number 2. This is from a small company. No one has actually heard of it. We haven't talked about it much. It's called OpenAI. Please google it. So it was actually (laughter) showing the CEO of the company committing a crime. Jeff, what's going on here?

BRUMFIEL: Yeah, this second video is from an app that OpenAI released earlier this fall called Sora that made it really easy to generate AI slop. One of Sora's features is the ability to include other people's faces and voices in your videos with their permission. One of the first people to give permission was Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. He has people create videos using their likenesses, and an OpenAI employee created this video of Altman dressed as the possible target. It's surveillance video that appears to show Altman shoplifting computer chips for his AI company.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

AI-generated voice: (As Sam Altman) Please, Sora's reasoning really needs this. This video is too good.

BRUMFIEL: Now, this is an inside joke about AI's never-ending need for computing, but it's very noteworthy for a number of reasons. First, it shows that AI video can put real humans into completely fake situations. You can have the CEO of a company commit a fake crime and make it look pretty realistic. But that's not the only fake thing Sora can create. So I also saw news articles about Sola producing fake videos of people stuffing ballot boxes and fake local news interviews. And this is causing a lot of concern, especially as Shannon said earlier, next year is an election year, but Sola has basically lowered the bar for slop to zero.

DETROW: So these are two different extremes. Jeff, you're talking about how these fake videos get incorporated into the real news cycle very quickly. Shannon, you are talking about complete farcical propaganda, there is no other word for it. Let's move on to the final video. This is something our listeners have probably seen before. It has been viewed 200 million times on TikTok. Tell me about rabbits, Shannon.

Bond: Yes. This video also looks pretty realistic. It looks like a Ring camera footage of a super cute bunny bouncing on a trampoline in the backyard at night. And you can imagine, right? Some people post videos like this…

DETROW: Yeah.

Bond: …Isn't that so? – From an actual Ring camera. When this was posted on TikTok this summer, many people were fooled into thinking it was real. There was no watermark on the video itself to indicate it was created using AI. TikTok then gave the post its own AI label, but as we all know, judging by the comments at the time, a huge number of people completely believed it was real. What's interesting about this example is that I think it's quite different from the other examples we've talked about. But this is, you know, kind of insensitive and cute engagement bait. It's an animal, right? It is very prevalent on the internet.

DETROW: Yeah.

Bond: That was always trending on the internet, right? So in some ways it's no surprise that we're now seeing AI versions of this. But what struck me is that this is the kind of thing I'm seeing all over my social media feeds at the moment. And whether they're explicitly labeled as AI or not, I think the lines are really starting to blur, making people feel like this AI slop is inevitable when they go online.

DETROW: So if it's inevitable, I'm just wondering, Jeff, is there anything that can be done about it?

Brumfiel: Well, first of all, until we have some kind of regulation or labeling, we're just going to have to accept that sooner or later we're going to be fooled, Scott. I mean, at this point, I think we've all seen the AI ​​videos. But with that said, there are some things to keep in mind. AI videos tend to be very short because they require a lot of computing to create, and they often include scenarios that, after a quick look, prove to be unrealistic. For example, rabbits will not bounce on a trampoline all at once. Reverse image searches and searching for news articles about the event you're watching can also be helpful.

But interestingly, Scott, one of the things that the researchers I talked to about this have said is that they don't actually want people to become cynical and assume that everything is fake. If that happens, it will be very difficult to hold the villain accountable. People might say, oh, that's just a fake. I didn't actually do that. So even if it's a cute animal video, you have to cling to reality. You know that raccoon that passed out next to the toilet? I thought that was AI. But I did my homework and was relieved to find out that raccoons can actually get drunk at liquor stores in 2025. And that brought a little joy into my life. And that's the reality.

Detrow: I think Raccoon always provides real and interesting internet content.

Brumfiel: Let's hope. Let's hope this AI image generation doesn't put raccoons out of work.

DETROW: (Laughter) That's what NPR's Shannon Bond and Jeff Brumfiel were going downhill, deep, deep. I would like to express my gratitude and condolences to both of them.

Bond: Thank you, Scott.

DETROW: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

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