The Rise of Brainrot: Absurd AI-Generated Characters Taking Over the Internet

Ballerina Cappuccina, Bombardiro Crocodilo, or Tung Tung Tung Sahur. Do these names ring any bells? Probably not. Yet, these dozens of fictional and absurd characters have become unlikely online stars. Entirely created by artificial intelligence, these bizarre-looking figures belong to the vast and ever-expanding family of "brainrots."

A burgeoning facet of internet culture, brainrot can be literally translated as "cerebral rotting" or "digital dumbing down." Elected word of the year 2024 by the prestigious British Oxford Dictionary, it defines the term as "the deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially when considered as the result of excessive consumption of content, especially online, considered trivial or unstimulating." The concept speaks to a growing concern about the impact of endless scrolling and the consumption of shallow online content on our cognitive abilities.

Brainrot characters are a unique product of the culture of the absurd and the grotesque, brought to life by countless contributors. Take Ballerina Cappuccina, for example. She’s a fictional woman who excels in classical dance, but her face is, quite literally, a cup of cappuccino, hence her Italian-sounding name. Spawned by AI software that allows for the generation of diverse images, each internet user contributes to the evolution of the creature. On TikTok, hundreds of videos repurpose these characters to give them improbable adventures, ludicrous battles, and outlandish love stories.

The primary objective is not to imbue these videos with any narrative coherence. Instead, the core idea is to push the boundaries of bizarreness as far as possible, a tactic that amuses some while exasperating others. The appeal lies in the sheer randomness and unexpectedness of the characters and situations.

Beyond Ballerina Cappuccina, there’s Cappuccino Assassino, her undeniably aggressive husband, who is a disposable coffee cup dressed as a ninja. Chimpanzini Bananini is a character that is half gorilla and half banana. Lirili Larila is a hybrid of an elephant and a cactus, and Tralalero Tralala is a shark that proudly wears a large pair of Nike sneakers.

Accompanying these characters is a voice generated by artificial intelligence that speaks in a rudimentary Italian dialect. The focus is not to make them engage in meaningful dialogue but rather to spout words that end with the vowels "a" or "o." The resulting narration is often nonsensical, adding to the comical or almost psychedelic nature of the trend. The disjointed and repetitive phrases contribute to the overall feeling of absurdity that defines the brainrot aesthetic.

The success of these characters is so significant that TikTok and YouTube users readily film themselves ranking these different characters in order of preference. These videos also accumulate millions of views worldwide. Furthermore, there are street interviews in which people are shown images of these characters and asked to guess their names. The surprising recognition of these absurd figures speaks to their widespread popularity.

While the phenomenon was born online, the so-called Italian brainrots are materializing beyond the Chinese social network. For instance, they are available as toys on the website of the American retail giant Walmart, each priced at $15.69. This transition from digital content to physical merchandise highlights the commercial potential of the brainrot trend.

The enthusiasm surrounding these characters has led to the creation of a website called Brainrot Wiki, which emulates the interface of Wikipedia to catalogue all the brainrot characters, narrate their fictional histories, and list their family members and dates of birth, as a traditional collaborative website might do. Similar pages already exist for fictional series, books, or films. The website is hosted on Fandom.com, a platform created in 2004 that allows fan communities to create collaborative pages dedicated to the characters of their favorite universes. Characters from the American Star Wars saga or the Game of Thrones series are also catalogued there.

While some lament the proliferation of mind-numbing content, the Italian brainrots are also criticized because anyone can easily create them using artificial intelligence tools. This ease of creation allows for the insertion of controversial messages into these ultra-popular videos. The lack of oversight and moderation can lead to the spread of harmful content disguised as harmless entertainment.

For instance, the character Bombardiro Crocodilo was created as a creature that is half crocodile and half military aircraft. In certain videos featuring the character, the voiceover declares, in broken Italian, that he is responsible for bombing children in Gaza and Palestine. The tirade ends with "he does not believe in Allah and he likes bombs." Similarly, the character Tralalero Tralala, the shark wearing Nike shoes, sings "tralali tralala, fuck God, fuck Allah" in his Italian voice.

These are unsettling statements, especially considering that this trend is massively viewed by a young audience, fond of these characters, and whose ears the Italian lyrics get lost within the mass of content circulating on TikTok. The casual dissemination of hateful and discriminatory messages within seemingly harmless entertainment is a serious concern. The potential for these brainrot characters to be weaponized for propaganda and misinformation is a dark side to this seemingly lighthearted trend. The challenge lies in finding ways to mitigate the risks of harmful content while still allowing for creative expression and humor.