By: Chloe Wu

Videos have recently surfaced on social media that feature artificial intelligence (AI) generated people telling stories. The content includes an AI generated character that looks, moves, and sounds like a real-life humans. These videos include storytelling that ranges from autobiographies of famous historical figures to disturbing stories.

Alisha Arora is a 17-year-old intern at AI Labs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is also a UNICEF ambassador who specifically focuses on AI and mental health. Arora is a TikTok user. The first AI storytelling video she saw was on TikTok appeared to be a famous basketball player.

“I actually thought it was real,” Alisha stated in an interview with CBC Kids News. “It’s hard to draw the line between what’s real and what’s fake.” (CBS kids)

But recently, some of the stories told by the AI people have become disturbing and outrageous. They are particularly concerning when the characters look, and sound, like children.

One video featured Tupac Shakur storytelling his life and death. Another story showed a young boy storytelling a fictitious horror story about a Fortnite game gone wrong.

In some videos, the content can be inappropriate and disturbing for children. Some content includes stories of abuse, violence against children, sexual content, and racist stereotypes.

TikTok said that it regulates AI generated content seriously in an email conversation with Kids News. TikTok also stated that AI generated content “that contains the likeness of any real private figure” is restricted. They continued, saying that the content cannot include “hate speech, sexual exploitation and serious forms of harassment”. (CBS kids)

As AI generated stories get more popular on TikTok, many social media users are concerned and uncomfortable about some of the content featured. As the situation raises many concerns, TikTok is trying to manage the content of the AI generated media.