Yes. Bigfoot. With a selfie cam. Talking about his feelings.
And not in a spooky Blair Witch Project kind of way. This Bigfoot is shy, gentle, and deeply committed to rustic cottagecore vibes. He hikes through the woods. He befriends raccoons. He cooks steaks (sometimes suspiciously similar to the raccoons he just befriended, but we don’t talk about that). He looks into the camera and shares his truth - and I can’t look away. I love this weird forest cryptid influencer. I would subscribe to his Substack.
And here’s the freaky part: this video was created entirely by AI. And yet, the lip-sync? Flawless. The performance? Weirdly endearing. The camera work? Better than most YouTubers. The AI might have trained on millions of hours of vloggers doing what vloggers do, but it has never seen Bigfoot. Because, reminder, Bigfoot isn’t real. And yet… here we are.
Another genre flooding my feed: ASMR cutting videos where a faceless person uses a kitchen knife to slice through improbable objects: gold bars, crystal orbs, solid chunks of glass. You hear the crunch. You see the perfectly rendered layers. It’s both absurd and addictive. No, I don’t think knives can cut through pure amethyst. No, I don’t think anyone’s out here carving up tungsten cubes like they’re sponge cake. But does my brain release serotonin every time a shiny rock gets surgically dissected? Absolutely.
And then there are the cozy diorama videos. Tiny woolen animals living their best lives in needle-felted cottages, sipping tea, hugging their little felt friends, climbing into plush beds under quilted blankets. These are adorable. They look exactly like the kind of stop-motion shorts that take animators six months and twelve breakdowns to make. Except… they weren’t made by an artist. They were made by someone typing “cozy felt forest with sleepy raccoons” into a prompt box.
Which should make me angry. And a little part of me is. I’ve seen the behind-the-scenes of those painstaking stop-motion films. I know what it takes. But another part of me - possibly the part that’s been parenting and working and doomscrolling - is just happy to see a fluffy otter wearing a sweater. I smiled. I shared it with my wife. And then I watched it again.
So yeah. AI video is taking over my feed. And… I kinda like it?
Don’t get me wrong. I’m still anxious. I still think we’re sprinting face-first into a dystopia where anyone can generate a fake news clip, create a fake influencer, or sell you a fake yogurt commercial featuring a family of golden retrievers in a hot air balloon. But the reality, at least for now, is… kinda delightful?
I don’t know if we need AI video. I still don’t think it’s good for art. Or society. Or truth. But right now, my feed is filled with Bigfoot’s emotional journey, surreal knife-cutting therapy, and tiny felt rabbits falling asleep in mushroom-shaped homes.
It’s not the apocalypse I expected. But I’ll take it.
