These ‘Italian’ AI figures are the newest Tiktokhype: « It’s Islamophobic, and children are going to repeat this »
Does your child also call ‘Ballerina Cappuccina’? Through AI-made figures who are creating bizarre Italian alliterations: it is the trend on Tiktok on which Flemish DJs and companies such as Samsung are also curbing. Adults usually do not understand much of the videos that are now circulating. We explain it. « It’s Islamophobic. »
The newest Tiktok-Trend in the youth is one in which special drawing figures are cramping Italian sounding sentences. It is called ‘Italian Brainrot’. Last year the Oxford University Press called ‘Brainrot’ to the word of the year. It means that we stuff our brains with useless information and scrolling thoughtlessly through large quantities of online content. That is not striking, so that you are left behind with the question: « What have I actually looked at? »
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The Italian subgenre originated in January. At the time, absurdly by AI-generated characters appeared. The first was a shark with Nike sneakers at his feet, called Spalalalero Tralala. It is often about animals melted with objects. Such as a chimpanzee melted with a banana or a crocodile with a military aircraft. The memes have a vague Italian character.
Or their names sound Italian, such as Shimpanzinni Bananinni or Bombardino Crocodilo. She expresses a heavy AI-men voice with accent, although the literal translation is not very much. Or the characters refer to cultural characteristics, such as Ballerina Cappuccina that looks like a coffee in Tutu and today turns out to be one of the most popular figures. The original video of the dancing coffee was viewed more than 45 million times.
The hashtag ‘Italian Brainrot’ booms in its entirety and has since been viewed three billion times. There is a good chance that every scrolling teenager saw it passing by. In the meantime, numerous social media users make their own figures. Or users let existing figures go on AI adventure together, as if you are watching a short cartoon. Ballerina Cappucina now has babies with a different character. There are also people who make themselves up like their favorite figure and make a video of it. It seems one major internet entertainment.
Dance and sing
If remixes are made, you know that something really lives. This week, Flemish DJ Arthur Lewis (24) placed a big technobeat under the Italian Brainrot slogans such as ‘Tung Tung Tung Sahur’. « I got to see the videos on Tiktok. I kept hanging, just because it is so absurd. People send it to friends and thinking: » What is this? » The algorithm is on Tiktok, so I jump on hypes for the first time. A success that Samsung Belgium and Ryanair surf on. They made their own figure who mimics the rhythm of the Italian language.
As more often on social media, dark things also pop up around the trend. A Flemish Tiktokker Loqmane with 20,000 followers speaks of ‘Islamophobic’ content. There is a video of Bombardino Crocodilo that says they bomb children in Gaza and Palestine. « Children don’t know what they say, but are going to repeat this. Makers want to indoctrinate them, » he says. Redfox, the youth movement of the PvdA, also posted a video in which they express their displeasure. Yet the majority of the videos looks like our feed (still) innocent. With Ballerina Cappuccina who happily makes pirouettes around all the brain rot.
