No, your favourite influencer hasn’t got a dozen Dachshund dogs. It’s just AI

WARNING: ALL PHOTOS INVOLVING ANIMALS ARE CREATED USING AI

As you’ve been scrolling through social media lately, you may have noticed some posts that seem a little odd.

Grainy CCTV footage of a dog saving a child from a bear attack, video of hares on a trampoline or a picture of a Christmas market outside Buckingham Palace.

These are all produced by AI and are being labeled as AI “slop” due to their poor quality and lack of originality.

Social media users and creators alike say they are concerned that AI overstreaming feeds will lead to a less authentic online experience and overshadow real posts.

But a new trend where people are adding AI-generated animals to original photos has encouraged some creators to embrace AI.

“I thought, ‘This is a really niche thing because it looks so real,'” influencer Zoe Ilana Hill said.

The 26-year-old artist jumped on the trend after being impressed by the way another creator creatively used AI by editing some of her original photos and adding AI dogs.

“I don’t want to see this [AI] “As a threat to my career, I want to see this as something I can work with,” the full-time influencer says.

Zoe, who has 82,000 followers, says she feels platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok are trying to “force” users and force “artificial intelligence” and has seen her feed’s share diminish.

But he saw potential in the AI ​​animal trend, adding that he doubted the post would perform well because he thought social media users would act like “oh my god, he’s holding a deer.”

“Deer are so seasonal that it’s so rare to go and physically see a deer in person,” he says.

Zoe says her post was a success, receiving over 20,000 likes and comments: “Absolutely this is the cutest thing ever” and “This trend is so cute!!!!”

Whenever Zoe shares a photo taken by AI, she likes to make it clear that it’s a generated image, “there’s actually a hashtag [on Instagram] “You can say that this photo was created by artificial intelligence”.

“I don’t think it’s fair for people to think something is real when it isn’t.”

Influencers not disclosing their use of AI can cause confusion.

So did a German influencer with 900,000 followers who posted a photo of dozens of AI dalmatians with the caption: “Just me, living my dream.”

One user asked: “AI? I’ve seen a post like this three times today.”

Another stated that he was concerned about the welfare of the animals produced and said, “There are many dogs in animal shelters that want to have a nice home.”

“Hot girls are starting to use AI,” wrote one user X, who discussed the trend by sharing animal photos of various influencers in a post viewed nearly 27 million times.

But not everyone sees using AI in this way as harmless fun.

Another X user responded: “They’re not cute because they use AI to do mindless tasks that can easily be done manually with Photoshop.”

Clara Sandell, a marketing expert and digital creative from Finland, joined the trend after seeing it “everywhere” and finding the posts “so cute.”

“I’m kind of putting forward my own opinion [on the trend]“I used my spirit animals and my favorite animals,” adds the 38-year-old.

Clara posted a photo on Instagram of a carousel featuring tigers, a deer, a horse, cats and dogs.

Reactions to the photos were positive, with many tagging the post as “stylish” and “beautiful.”

When asked if he would participate in future AI trends, he replied “depending on how cute the trend is” and “depending on whether it’s transparent so you can see that it’s AI that’s being used.”

For creators looking to create high-quality visuals, social media consultant Matt Navarra thinks AI is making it easier for influencers to produce “fantastic bright” and “aesthetic” content, “whether it’s produced from wild animals or something much more believable.”

While some of the AI ​​content we see online is unrealistic and obviously not real, Mr. Navarra says “most people who are serious about being creative or influencers want to protect their reputation.”

He believes that many creators are “doubling down on reality” to carve out a space for themselves among “a sea of ​​AI-generated content that floods in or AI collapses.”

The consultant says that he predicts that 2026 will be the year of content dominated by artificial intelligence on social media, and adds: “If you think artificial intelligence animal content is interesting, fasten your seatbelts.”

But not everyone will be happy to hear this.

“I love you but not the AI,” Maddi Mathers, a Melbourne tattoo artist, commented under a post from the same German influencers who created the AI ​​dalmatians.

Commenting isn’t something Maddi, who describes herself as a “very quiet social media user,” would normally do.

However, when the tattoo artist first saw the photo, he believed it was real, but when he reviewed the posts it turned out the cute Dalmatians were “obviously very fake”.

“Honestly, it’s such a simple thing, but it makes you feel stupid when you’re tricked by AI,” the 25-year-old actor explains.

Maddi says such AI posts create an element of distrust because as an influencer, “it’s very important to be true to yourself and show your true self.”

He believes that creators posting inauthentic content can “hurt their careers” because their audiences “won’t know what to believe anymore.”

The decline of AI is not necessarily a bad thing; It’s “the speed and volume of what we create” that interests creative health scientist Katina Bajaj.

“When we are creating and consuming AI-generated content so quickly, we are not giving our brains enough time to digest,” says Ms. Bajaj.

He explains that, from his perspective, the solution to the AI ​​trend is not to ban it or “undervalue AI tools,” but to “prioritize and value our creative well-being rather than producing endless content.”

According to Meta’s policy, there is currently no requirement on Instagram to “label images created or modified by AI.”

However, “images will still receive a tag if Meta’s systems detect that they were created by AI.”

TikTok recently launched a new tool that allows users to shape their feed; This includes being able to see more or less AI-generated content.

The ‘Manage Topics’ feature aims to help users tailor their ‘for you pages’ to ensure users have a variety of content in their feeds, rather than removing or replacing content entirely.

There are many artificial intelligence software that can be used to realize this trend, but not all of them can create the perfect content that social media offers.

Emily Manns, a US fashion content creator, didn’t quite get what she was hoping for when she bought multiple AI apps to join the trend and got “a single rodent” in what was supposed to be an aesthetic photo.

“I don’t even know what happened [the animal] It was,” said the 34-year-old actor.

“IT [the photo] It took about 2 minutes to load and when it did I was peeing my pants with laughter.”

The app also added an extra finger to the influencer’s hand and distorted her face.

Emily said she shared the photo on Instagram but “immediately deleted it” because the content wasn’t very interesting.