In recent weeks, global social media platforms have experienced a noticeable influx of AI-driven videos, prompting experts to caution that this trend might lead some users to abandon these digital spaces.

On September 30, OpenAI introduced Sora, its newest video generator, touted for its unprecedented physical accuracy, realism, and enhanced control capabilities.

OpenAI remarked, “Sora 2 is capable of performing tasks that were previously challenging—and sometimes outright unattainable—for earlier video generation technologies.”

Currently, Sora is accessible through an invite-only system, with plans to eventually extend availability to a broader audience.

Already, numerous deepfake creations have emerged, gaining traction with clips depicting newborns sprinting from hospitals, animals caught in tornadoes, and elderly women being flipped over becoming particularly popular.

They also include figures like the late Queen Elizabeth II, Michael Jackson and US President Donald Trump. 

Melbourne University Centre for AI and Digital Ethics Deputy Director Marc Cheong said these videos were a progression of the “AI slop”, what he describes as low-quality content that clogs up people’s feeds, being created out of OpenAI’s Dall-E program last year.

“Like Jesus Christ with a shrimp on the beach or something along the lines in an impossible image,” he said.

Sora videos can be a little tricky to tell apart at first glance, particularly if they depict more realistic scenarios.

But there is an app-identifying watermark that is included in all the videos. 

Cheong added that users can count the number of fingers on a hand or check if timestamps actually change to decipher which videos have been generated by AI.

“Basically, if something is too good to be true, it’s important to just treat it with a healthy dose of scepticism and just look into it a bit more,” he said.

Cheong said he was not surprised by how realistic the videos were, but rather that it was available to use by the general public.

And some of the Sora deepfakes have already landed OpenAI in trouble. 

Sora users have targeted civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr, with some of the videos showing him fighting fellow crusader Malcolm X, making his famous “I have a dream” speech with some obvious changes and in reportedly racist depictions.

These have caused concern with his estate, which requested OpenAI address the use of his likeness.

OpenAI acknowledged there had been “disrespectful” depictions and paused images of King late last week as it “strengthens guardrails for historical figures”.

“While there are strong free speech interests in depicting historical figures, OpenAI believes public figures and their families should ultimately have control over how their likeness is used,” the company said.

“Authorised representatives or estate owners can request that their likeness not be used in Sora cameos.”

Zelda Williams, the daughter of Robbie Williams, was also forced to make a public plea for users to stop sending her deepfakes of the late comedian and actor.

“To watch the legacies of real people be condensed down to ‘this vaguely looks and sounds like them so that’s enough’, just so other people can churn out horrible TikTok slop puppeteering them is maddening,” she wrote in an Instagram story.

“You’re not making art, you’re making disgusting, over-processed hotdogs out of the lives of human beings, out of the history of art and music, and then shoving them down someone else’s throat hoping they’ll give you a little thumbs up and like it. Gross.”

King’s daughter Bernice followed with her own public plea: “I concur concerning my father. Please stop.”

With a number of deepfakes being troll content, particularly of a known figure, Cheong said the videos posed an issue to a deceased person’s right of reply and consent and autonomy.

“In the event that these AI creations are used for monetary gain, then obviously it is an even more ethically tricky issue, because you’re profiting from the deceased,” he said.

Cheong said the influx of AI slop may end up turning some people away from social media.

“But at the same time, social media is optimised for engagement,” he said.

“There will be users who continue to be engaged with this content, because inherently, how social media gets their profits from is from your attention.”