60% of videos on TikTok are created using AI

According to TNW, online video editing platform Kapwing, conducted a survey and found that AI garbage (AI slops) is invading major video sharing services. After analyzing 10,742 TikTok videos in 20 popular categories, and examining the first 500 videos displayed on the For You section of a newly created account, researchers found that 59% of the content was created by AI. In similar research conducted previously with YouTube, the proportion of AI accounted for about 21%.

The situation is even worse in the children’s content category. When checking 100 random videos with the hashtag #CartoonKids (children’s animation), there are 97 videos created with artificial intelligence, only 3 produced by humans. Related keywords also recorded an overwhelming rate, such as #cartoons (animation) and #babysong (children’s music) both reached 83%, while #forkids (for children) reached 79%.

Kapwing noted that the actual percentage of AI content is much higher because the 59% figure only takes into account videos that the algorithm identifies as clearly using AI scripts and voices.

Ms. Ana Maria Constantin, representative of the survey team, commented that the cause of the wave comes from the operating mechanism of current video platforms. Prioritizing quantity over quality unintentionally encourages users to continuously post “instant noodle” content to attract views and make money.

Theo 9to5Macthe only positive point is that users can proactively retrain TikTok and YouTube’s algorithms to reduce this content. Research shows that “AI garbage” is most densely displayed on newly created accounts with no specific viewing history. If you actively scroll through or click to hide low-quality videos, the algorithm gradually adjusts and returns human-made content. However, experts see this as still alarming data and the wave of content pollution caused by AI will be even more overwhelming in the future.