If you have scrolled on TikTok within the last month, there is a chance you have come across at least one of the many bizarre history videos created solely from artificial intelligence that have flooded the platform.
The trend came out of nowhere just a month ago and has seemingly taken the internet by storm, proving to be popular for the creators behind the easy-made content.
The basis of each TikTok consists of a point of view that puts you in the eyes of a citizen or well-known figure from a significant period. The videos have completely generated AI graphics and act as a virtual tour of times long ago. Most popularly, the format has you “waking up” as this person, yawning and looking around as you go through a day in the time period.
The videos can be a treat for any person interested in history who wishes they could wander around in times they read about in history class. With that, it is easy to understand the success of these TikTok videos.
Many people have an innate curiosity about times long before now, and these AI videos are a rather clear visualization of our prior knowledge that lets the mind wander.
The TikTok account that kicked off this trend was TimeTravellerPOV, and it began posting these AI history videos in late January. Before adopting the point of view format, these TikToks included AI-generated “vlogs” in periods such as 79 CE Pompeii, London in the 1800s, and the U.S. Industrial Revolution.
These early videos garnered a fair amount of views, but it was not until mid-February that the format exclusively became POV with the semi-viral video titled “POV: You Wake Up in The Prehistoric Era.”
New TikToks from the account were being pumped out daily, virality skyrocketed and the account ended up with over 500,000 followers as time progressed. It seems like this trend was the new “it” for content creators could be a guaranteed 1 million views per video.
After seeing the virality of such a concept, any AI enthusiast could hop on at ease as AI generation is just a few simple clicks. Throughout February, “copycat” accounts began popping up and added to the never-ending content stream.
TikTok user’s For You pages began getting filled with videos from the likes of The_POV_Lab, SalvagedHistoryAI, Histairy_Films and ImpossibleAICinema. All of these accounts have gained between 100,000-800,000 followers within the last 30 days.
With any trend, especially one that has anything to do with generative AI, it seems as though any short-form content platform gets saturated overnight with videos following it. The phenomenon has been seen countless times in previous years from text-to-speech Reddit stories fit with AI captions, loads of AI reaction content to most notably, “(piece of media) if it was dark fantasy” prompts.
The new AI history trend is no different as the TikToks are severely easy to generate, and many creators can see this as an opportunity to gain more views. However, it can naturally end up inflating the timelines for site users for about a month.
These videos can also have inaccuracies both historically and physically. The issue of AI generation itself is also contentious. AI is notorious for countless bugs, anatomical inaccuracies and the infamous glossy look that can disjoint an entire video.
In these TikTok videos, characters seem to float through the glamour versions of dark periods in world history fit with six to nine fingers, fever-dream motions and nauseating sound effects.
With that, users wonder what trend will come around in months to come to take the internet by storm. As AI progresses at rapid speed, enthusiasts can also look forward to a possible future where these ideas can flourish in more detail and accuracy, providing more realistic depictions of the past.
