Arts·Commotion

Why are real, human TikTokers pretending to be AI?

Kyle Orland from Ars Technica chats about a curious trend he noticed: real TikTokers pretending to be AI generated.

Kyle Orland from Ars Technica chats about the curious trend he noticed on the popular social video app

The TikTok logo can be seen on a phone screen that's laid atop a lit up keyboard.
FILE PHOTO: TikTok app logo is seen in this illustration taken, August 22, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

The latest version of Google's AI tool Veo can make impressively realistic-looking 8-second videos.

While this has inevitably raised concerns about people being fooled by deepfake videos, Kyle Orland from Ars Technica noticed another, more curious trend gaining steam at the same time: real content creators pretending to be AI-generated on TikTok. 

Today on Commotion, Orland chats with host Elamin Abdelmahmoud about what made him take notice of this trend, why human content creators might want to pretend to be AI, and what it all means for our ability to parse out the truth online.

WATCH | Today's episode on YouTube (this segment begins at 17:17):

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.


Interview with Kyle Orland produced by Jean Kim.