AI Slops blur the distinction between truth and counterfeiting, experts say – AFP Oliver Contreras
Summit Duby in New Delhi and Michelle Fitzpatrick and Anuj Chopra of Frankfurt
The video is surprisingly realistic, with women in bikini doing street interviews and eliciting obscene comments, completely fake, generated by AI tools increasingly used to flood social media with sexist content.
Such AI slops – mass-produced content created by inexpensive artificial intelligence tools that turn simple text prompts into surreal visuals – frequently own real posts, blurring the line between fiction and reality.
This trend is driven by platform incentive programs that create a cottage industry for AI influencers, stirring up large amounts of sexual clips with minimal effort, and often financially rewarding viral content.
The horde of AI clips loaded with humor in the locker room is intended to show a quick look at female interviewers on the streets of India and England.
AFP fact checkers tracked many such videos on Instagram in Hindi. Male interviewees are said to show that male interviewees even grab a woman – even grab a woman, while male crowd gaw and laugh at the background.
Many videos have won tens of millions of views. And it monetized its traction even further by promoting an adult chat app to “make new female friends.”
The manufactured clips were so realistic that some users of the comments questioned whether the women in the spotlight were real.
Samples of these videos, analyzed by US cybersecurity company GetReal Security, showed that they were created using Google's VEO 3 AI generator, known for Hyper-Realistic Visuals.
– “Gender Harm” –
“The misogyny, which usually remains hidden in locker room chats and groups, is now dressed to the AI visual,” India-based cyber psychologist Nira Libertia told AFP.
“This is part of the harms of gender through AI,” she said, adding that the trend is “promoting sexism.”
This trend provides a window into the internet landscape. Now, they are increasingly overwhelmed by memes, videos and images generated by AIs, focusing attention with authentic content and even more competing.
“The content generated by AI slops and all sorts of unsigned AI slowly shatters away any small trust left in visual content,” GetReal Security's Emmanuelle Saliba told AFP.
The most viral misogynistic content often relies on shock values. This states that clips on Instagram and Tiktok were generated by Wired Magazine using Veo 3 to portray Black women as big, feet-filled primates.
One popular Tiktok account video meditatively lists what the so-called gold drilling “Girls Gone Wild” does for money.
The woman is also a feed to torment AI-driven ClickBait, and AFP fact checkers track a viral video of a fake marine trainer named “Jessica Radcliffe” and are fatally attacked by ORCA at a live show in the water park.
The produced footage spread rapidly across platforms such as Tiktok, Facebook and X, sparking global rage from users who believe women are real.
– “Unreality” –
Last year, Alexios Mantzarlis, director of Cornell Tech's Security, Trust and Safety Initiative, discovered 900 Instagram accounts for “models” where AI can be generated.
These thirst traps cumulatively attracted 13 million followers, posted over 200,000 images, and monetized reach by redirecting viewers to commercial content sharing platforms.
“The numbers are much bigger now,” Mantzarlis told AFP as AI Fakery is growing online.
“Expect more nonsense content that utilizes body standards that are not only unrealistic, but also literally unrealistic,” he added.
Financially incentive slops have become increasingly challenging for police as content creators, including students and home parents around the world, turn to AI video production as gig work.
Many creators on YouTube and Tiktok offer paid courses on how to monetize viral AI-generating materials on their platforms.
Some platforms have tried to crack down on accounts that promote Slop, and YouTube has recently said that creators of “fraud” and “mass-produced” content are eligible for monetization.
“AI doesn't invent misogyny, it just reflects and amplifies what's already there,” AI consultant Divyendra Jadoun told AFP.
“When viewers reward this type of content with millions of likes, the creators of algorithms and AI keep producing it. The bigger battle isn't just technology, it's social and cultural.”
burs-ac/st
