Why are kids crying to AI-generated cat videos?

+ The Zuckassaince, DashCon 2.0, inside an AI slop farm, and chaos on ‘Instagram island’

Thousands of content creators have begun posting AI generated cat stories to social media. The phenomenon marks one of the first breakout online content formats in the AI era, reshaping the creator economy and raising concerns about inappropriate content. I wrote about the phenomenon for The Washington Post.

Buoyed by the growth of short form video, AI generated cat stories have attracted a monumental following in recent months. The proliferation of generative AI tools like Google Gemini and Midjourney, as well as video editing tools like CapCut, has allowed this new genre to flourish. Platforms have become flooded with these stories, depicting cats in emotional and sometimes bizarre or disturbing scenarios.

Cats have long been at the forefront of online content. Cat memes such as the success cat shaped the early, image-dominated web. When online video emerged, viral cat videos like Keyboard Cat were some of the first breakout hits on YouTube. Grumpy Cat played a formative role in the influencer industry in the early 2010s, launching the entire petfluencer landscape.

Aside from Facebook, most social platforms have managed to stave off the deluge of low quality, often bizarre AI generated images and engagement bait. But AI cat stories seem to be changing that.

"[The AI cat story videos] show that some of the places that seemed to be safer from AI generated content, such video platforms, are now more susceptible to having their platforms flooded," said Don Caldwell, editor in chief of Know Your Meme.

Part of the success of the AI cat stories is due to their accessibility. The storylines are compelling and dramatic and often tap into deep emotions. The stories told usually focus around themes like good vs evil, tragedy or triumph, or terror and fear. None of the videos feature any specific language and they're all set to renditions of hit pop songs where all the lyrics have been replaced with the word meow. The content is easy to grasp and optimized for even young children to understand. 

But in the quest to elicit emotion, the storylines sometimes turn dark and disturbing. In some videos the cats struggle with physical deformities or boils on their skin, others feature violence and bloodshed. 

One video posted by a YouTube channel with over 157,000 subscribers depicts a cat shooting up a Walmart and killing another cat who tried to stop the shooter. Many videos contain storylines related to the police, and cats becoming police officers to exact revenge on other cats who have wronged them, often by killing them. Many are just strange. One video, with over 22 million views on YouTube Shorts features a cat who has dirtied its diaper, who then appears to eat the contents of the diaper. Another video featuring a cat who drops his phone into a toilet garnered over 70 million views on YouTube. 

There's evidence the AI cat stories could be disturbing to at least some children. Videos of young children crying to the AI cat story videos have recently become a meme, resulting in TikTok and Instagram users showing the videos to young children and making them cry. Influencers have begun mocking the trend, doing videos lip syncing to the songs that play in the cat videos. 

Read my full story: The internet’s favorite animal gets a disturbing AI makeover

What I’m reading:

Where Facebook's AI Slop Comes From

Facebook is paying creators in India, Vietnam, and the Philippines for bizarre AI spam that they are learning to make from YouTube influencers and guides sold on Telegram. - 404 Media

Having taken orders, Chinese factory must actually make massive AI slop gorilla sofas

"We have a client who wants a gorilla sofa. The thing is, it's AI. But in China everything is possible." - BoingBoing

Trump Got a Free Cybertruck From Streamer Adin Ross. Is That Legal?

Kick streamer Adin Ross likely violated an FEC rule against excessive campaign contributions by giving Trump a Cybertruck and a Rolex to Trump doing his livestream on Monday. - Rolling Stone

Mark Zuckerberg’s New Image: Gold Chains and Gen-Z Curls

The chain is the beacon of the Zuckassaince… He looks like a rapper who just sold his first mixtape and bought a gold Cuban link. Or a 13-year-old who splurged out after his birthday at a mall kiosk. - WSJ

Peter Thiel’s influence over a network of Lord of the Rings-inspired companies

The tech billionaire can’t stop naming companies after Tolkien’s fantasy world - Disconnect

Lore Is the New ‘Core’

Microtrends based solely on visual aesthetics are fading, with audiences primed for a more thought-provoking connection. - Adweek

The grand unified theory of aesthetic vlogging

Most people tend to prioritize function over aesthetic value, but not aesthetic vloggers. Viewing and evaluating the internet as chiefly an aesthetic object — how aesthetically pleasing, beautiful or cute something is displayed/presented — is what unifies them. - Princess Baby Girl

Pump and Trump

Inside the MAGA-fueled fever dream of the 2024 Bitcoin Conference. - The Verge

Who Is Responsible for TikTok's Feeder Fetish?

People are accusing TikTok mukbang creators of making fetish content. Are their own reasons for watching any better? - Magdalene Taylor

Why millions of people still can’t stop playing Candy Crush

Launched in 2012, the tile-matching puzzler quickly became ubiquitous on phones. More than 10 years later, 200 million people are still playing. - The Guardian

Judging by these social media stars, humanity’s future is bleak

Truth doesn’t matter as Korean influencers battle for popularity in this reality TV show. It’s a horribly compelling insight into their world. - The Guardian

Exploring Gen Z’s obsession with Roblox’s Dress To Impress

If you’re anywhere on Twitch and YouTube, then you’ve likely seen your favorite streamer slay on Roblox fan-favorite Dress To Impress. - The Mary Sue, Polygon

YouTube Should Bring Back the Dislike Count

In 2021, YouTube made the dislike count private across the platform. It’s time to bring it back. - Passionfruit

Why I Hate Instagram Now

When the site pivoted to entertainment, Conor Friedersdorf argues that it put his loved ones in competition with ephemera. - The Atlantic

Podcasters are making hundreds of millions of dollars on Patreon

As Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw tweeted, “I can't tell... is $350 million from patreon for an entire industry good?” - Tubefilter

The AI boyfriend business is booming

A growing number of women are seeking connection and comfort in relationships with chatbots — and finding their approximation of empathy more dependable than many human partners' support. - Axios

Nothing Says ‘Party!’ to Gen Z Quite Like a 50-Deck PowerPoint and a Remote Clicker

Forget beer pong and karaoke, 20-somethings are throwing presentation parties. (These type of parties were actually pioneered by Millennials, but we’ll let that slide) - WSJ

How are Gen Z and millennials driving nostalgia?

We’ve seen Y2K fashion make a comeback, 80s fighter pilot and Maverick returned to our screens, and Kate Bush’s 1985 single “Running Up That Hill” topped the charts. What’s driving all this nostalgia? - GWI

In Mexico, a lucha libre 'dog' is also a viral meme

Wisin, originally created by the Institute of Youth in Mexico City to motivate children to exercise, has quickly evolved into a viral meme online. - NBC

How public displays of cuteness took over social media

Flowers? Love letters? PDA? It’s all back, baby. So why have our attitudes towards romance changed? - Cosmopolitan

British Slang Might Not Be the Dog’s Bollocks Much Longer

‘Wazzock’ and ‘plonker’ are being squeezed out by TikTok trends; Scottish bams keep the flame alive. - WSJ

You can’t innovate away loneliness

Why should we trust big tech to fix the problem it created? - Embedded

How things got ugly on Greece’s ‘Instagram island’

Overtourism has become a buzzword in recent years as popular destinations struggle to balance their need for visitor dollars with the quality of life of their residents. - CNN

Google Maps' new feature will show you where to park

The app will now pull up information about your destination within the app as you approach it, and show you where to park either within the building or near it. - Mashable

Dem super PAC launches campaign to reach Latino voters through YouTube influencers

Latinos spend roughly twice the amount of time on YouTube than other racial and demographic groups. - Axios

OnlyFans’ porn juggernaut fueled by a deception

Many top porn stars on OnlyFans hire ‘chatters’ to impersonate them online and entice subscribers into splurging on explicit content. Some subscribers say the deception amounts to fraud. One shares his story of betrayal. - Reuters

‘The Godmother of AI’ says California’s well-intended AI bill will harm the U.S. ecosystem

If passed into law, SB-1047 will harm our budding AI ecosystem, especially the parts of it that are already at a disadvantage to today’s tech giants: the public sector, academia, and “little tech,” Fei-Fei Li, PhD, a computer scientist, argues. - Fortune

Hollywood’s Divide on Artificial Intelligence Is Only Growing

While unions aim to establish guardrails and artists are going to court, studios are looking to use AI tools more often in production. - THR

How AI is transforming gymnastics

The governing body of international gymnastics has pushed for an AI-assisted aid for judges. But what justifies the tremendous expense for such a system? - The Verge

Is this the beginning of the end of the AI boom?

Nvidia is shedding value, OpenAI is sputtering, dubious generative AI ads are flooding the market, and signs point to a deflating tech bubble. - Blood in the Machine

Struggling AI Startups Look for a Bailout From Big Tech

Amazon, Google and Microsoft are using a new type of deal to get employees and technology from artificial-intelligence firms. - WSJ

Airbnb plans to expand beyond short-term rentals, including co-hosting and relaunching ‘experiences’

The company is weighing ideas like personal chefs, massages and mid-stay cleanings as part of its “in-home experiences” plans that could potentially woo customers away from hotels. - TechCrunch

YouTuber files class action suit over OpenAI’s scrape of creators’ transcripts

David Millette, a YouTube user based in Massachusetts, is seeking a jury trial and over $5 million in damages for all YouTube users and creators whose data might’ve been swept up in OpenAI’s training. - TechCrunch

Amazon Pushes Fast Delivery Into Rural Areas in Challenge to Post Office

Amazon is expanding into remote areas after years of fine-tuning its delivery systems in more dense cities. - WSJ

There’s a Tool to Catch Students Cheating With ChatGPT. OpenAI Hasn’t Released It.

Technology that can detect text written by artificial intelligence with 99.9% certainty has been debated internally for two years. - WSJ

Elon Musk’s X Sues Advertisers Over Alleged Boycott

The platform's antitrust suit claims an alleged conspiracy to withhold advertising dollars. Right-wing video site Rumble filed a similar suit today. I’m sure this will go well! - WIRED

Taco Bell will add voice AI ordering to hundreds of drive-thrus this year

Next time you're craving a chalupa supreme, you might not be ordering from a person. - Engadget

Other fun stuff:

DashCon is coming back! The infamous Tumblr convention is being revived as DashCon Two, “a tongue-in-cheek arts and internet culture fan convention based in Toronto. “

The organizers say, “We’re a genuine parody of the infamous 2014 DashCon convention and we’re hoping to avoid their mistakes by establishing strong ties within our local community. Our team is genuinely passionate about bringing people together, and we’ve dedicated ourselves to seeing this shitpost through to the end.”

Yes, there will be a ball pit.

For those unfamiliar with DashCon, here’s a great rundown:

How a failed Tumblr convention became one of the most important social media lessons of the 2010s - CNN

I love this creative format these two men on YouTube devised for their reaction videos. No fancy tech, just a big ass mirror.

The latest Gen Z-Boomer dictionary is out.

Speaking of boomers, here are the brands they’re obsessed with right now: Sparkling Ice, Good Humor ice cream, Snapchat (!?), and Flex Seal’s new Flex Caulk, which eliminates the need for a caulking gun (sounds about right).

Stop, stop, stop! If you scroll away from this video, then what are you doing!?

Last fall, a woman in Ohio threw her Chipotle burrito bowl at an employee. Then a judge sentenced her to two months of working in fast food—to teach her to be more empathetic. Reeves Wiedeman tried to find out if it worked.

This is fucked up, journalists should never be arrested for doing their jobs.

ENOUGH with the subscriptions!

The FBI successfully identified a January 6th insurrectionist by his ugly shoes.

TSA bins are the new fit check.

A Unified Theory of Glen Powell.

PS: Speaking of Glen Powell, did anyone else spend the weekend stalking Charli XCX’s birthday party at Tenants last Saturday!? The most chaotic mix of A listers, influencers, and niche internet personalities. There was something very peak Beatrice Inn about it all (non derogatory). Welcome back 2008!

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