- A thorough analysis reveals that 59% of the first videos a new user views on TikTok are low-quality, automated content.
- The children's sector is the most affected, with specific labels where synthetic content is close to 97% of the total.
- The presence of this type of material on TikTok is three times higher than that recorded on competing platforms such as YouTube Shorts.
- The European Union is tightening its grip on these contents through the AI Act to force clear and transparent labeling.
Since content generation tools took off, encountering posts created entirely by machines has become commonplace. What was once a technological curiosity is now an avalanche saturating feeds worldwide, especially on short-video platforms where quantity seems to take precedence over quality. Experts have already dubbed this phenomenon "the machine-generated content phenomenon." AI slopReferring to that kind of digital "junk food": videos produced en masse, with little care and the sole purpose of scraping together views at all costs.
The situation on TikTok has reached levels that many consider worrying after analyzing the algorithm's behavior with newcomers. It's not that you see a video like this occasionally after hours of scrolling; the platform serves them up on a silver platter as soon as you open an account. This saturation of synthetic content not only degrades the user experience but also puts the platform in a precarious position. authenticity of the digital community, a value that has always been the flagship of social networks but now seems to be in danger of extinction due to industrial automation.
The invasion of synthetic content in new profiles
A recent study conducted by the firm Kapwing has quantified a feeling many users already had. Analyzing more than 10.000 clips, the data is devastating: 59% of the first 500 videos The recommendations TikTok makes to a newly created profile are creations of dubious artificial intelligence. In other words, before the app even knows if you like football, cooking, or kittens, it's going to flip a coin, and more than half the time it lands on a computer-generated head with a robotic voice in the background.
If we compare this data with other platforms, the difference is quite striking. On YouTube Shorts, for example, the rate of this type of low-quality content drops to 21% for new accounts. This suggests that the algorithmic control of TikTok It is much more permissive with massive automated productions. Whereas Google's platform seems to have done cleaning with the closure of channels who abused these practices, on the social network of Chinese origin this phenomenon has become the natural state of things for those who have just arrived on it.
This deluge of content is not insignificant, as the cost of producing it is practically zero. The creators of these videos release hundreds of clips a day hoping that one will catch on and go viral. In the end, the user encounters absurd narratives and strange animations that mutate in an unnatural way, which generates a feeling of rejection in a significant part of the community that seeks to connect with real people, not with algorithms optimized to retain attention based on unconnected stimuli.
The impact of low-quality content on children
Where things get really serious is in the categories aimed at the youngest members of the household. The report highlights that the 57,4% of children's content It's purely artificial. There are specific categories, like children's cartoons, where the presence of AI reaches almost 97%. Unbelievable. We're talking about channels that use well-known television characters but put them in nonsensical situations, often with educational errors that an adult will immediately notice but that a child might accept as true.
Pediatric experts from institutions such as the University of Chicago have already raised the alarm. They warn that this type of disinformation on an industrial scale It is especially risky for brains that are still developing. Ultimately, every video a child watches helps to wire their neural connections, and if what they receive is a succession of distorted images and misconceptions, the result can be counterproductive to their long-term learning, especially when objects on screen change shape without any logic.
It's not just cartoons that are under scrutiny; areas like history, health, and science also show saturation levels close to 35%. It's very easy to put together a video with a synthesized voice telling you a tall tale about Ancient Rome or a miraculous home remedy without having verified a single word. Conversely, topics that require someone to actually show their face, like... fitness, music or fashionThey have hardly any AI presence, demonstrating that where there is an irreplaceable human factor, machines have not yet managed to get involved.
European regulation and the response of the platforms
In the old continent, we are not standing idly by in the face of this situation. EU Artificial Intelligence Law The AI Act, which comes into full effect this year, lays its cards on the table: any AI-generated content that could be mistaken for reality must be labeled. TikTok has already begun to take action by implementing warnings for AIGC content, but the Kapwing study suggests that these measures are still insufficient to curb the massive volume of videos reaching users.
The platform has announced multimillion-dollar investments in educational funds to improve digital literacy, but some believe that as long as these videos keep people glued to the screen, there won't be much interest in sweep thoroughlyAt an institutional level, countries like Norway have already begun to prohibit the use of these tools in the early years of primary school to ensure that children first learn the basics of reading and writing without synthetic distractions, setting a precedent that could be extended to other European territories.
The reality is that we are moving towards a scenario where the distinction between the real and the artificial is becoming increasingly blurred. Although TikTok has given users options to control the amount of AI In their feeds, the truth is that the first impression anyone gets when they visit the social network is dominated by machines. Ultimately, the value of authenticity and craftsmanship is on the rise in a market saturated with automated copies, forcing both creators and brands to find ways to differentiate themselves that technology is not yet able to successfully replicate.
This saturation of computer-generated videos highlights a paradigm shift in digital consumption, where the quantity of impressions seems to have won out over the quality of the message. With almost six out of ten initial videos now in the hands of artificial intelligence, especially in sensitive sectors like children's programming and education, the challenge for platforms and regulators is enormous. The key to the future of these social networks will lie in their ability to to balance technological advancement with the protection of a safe and truthful space for users, preventing the human experience from being diluted in a sea of meaningless content.
