AI-Generated ASMR Videos: A Surreal Trend Dividing Viewers and Creators

I watched some of the viral ASMR videos made with AI and I feel more confused than soothed

There's a strawberry made of glass that someone is cutting like it's made of jelly, then the same thing happens to several other berries and the Pokémon Charizard. A woman dips tongs into a platter of molten rock and takes a bite of the apparently delicious treat before spreading some on a waffle and taking a bite. These aren't a cough-syrup-induced hallucination; it's the latest trend in ASMR videos, created with Google's Veo 3 and other AI movie generators. You might have seen these and other bizarre videos on your TikTok algorithm. I'm not the biggest proponent of ASMR videos and their gentle whisperers, rhythmic tapping, and other soporific audio, but I understood the appeal. I'm not so sure the AI version is just as good. These aren't your traditional low-fi lo-fi tapping-and-brushing videos. Google Veo is definitely the most popular choice of AI video generators for ASMR. As good as the model is at producing realistic videos (for a given value of realism in this case), it still creates videos with a sheen of artificiality, lacking the errors and imprecision that are the hallmark of human-made ASMR. Friends of mine who are much bigger fans of ASMR claim it's not just the sounds and voices that entice them. It's the intimacy and immediacy that they like. One said that the 'tingle triggers' are there in the AI videos, but it's just not the same. That's not a universal opinion, though. These videos rack up millions of views. The comments are full of both excitement and confusion, with people unable to explain why they like the videos, or who are amazed how they can't stop watching them. Part of the appeal might be novelty. Anything new will have a fanbase at least for a little while, and Veo's video quality is unlike anything most people have seen before. It mimics natural lighting, shadow, and realistic camera motion. Perfect glass statues of Pokémon that can be cut in half with ease, because they're all AI-generated, are an eye-catcher for sure. As fun as it is, I wonder if anyone seeking a pure ASMR experience will choose an AI video. The sounds may scratch that auditory itch, but I wonder how many lists of favorite ASMR videos will include them. Not every AI trend has to make sense. Some of them very much don't. AI ASMR may have a niche place in the overall ASMR ecosystem. Still, I don't think the majority of people who fall asleep to sweet whispers will prefer the sound of simulated glass crunching under an invisible knife.

The AI ASMR video trend is agony to my eyes - and ears

If you've been on TikTok recently, chance are you've already been subjected to the latest trend in AI slop: AI ASMR videos. Yep, AI art is no longer assaulting our eyes but our ears too. Google Veo 3 has so much to answer for. Like many AI art trends, the fad was inspired by real art. Good ASMR videos are little snippets of perfection. Spine-tingling sensory experiences that can make you reappraise the beauty of everyday moments. The work of popular ASMR video creators on platforms like YouTube can be soothing, and often mesmerising, partly because you know the painstaking work that went into them, whether it was using a macro lens and complex tripod setup to capture a close up of a pen scratching on paper or using software like Blender to create a 3D model with realistic liquid physics. AI now allows people to make ASMR videos that break the rules of physics without much work, but their aim seems to be completely different. If you're not familiar with ASMR, it stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. ASMR videos use a mix of visual and audio stimuli designed to induce a strong sensory reaction. They often focus on simple but satisfying everyday actions: eating, tapping, whispering, the movement of a pencil or marker pen over paper. In many people, they produce a tingling, static-like sensation, which can be relaxing. AI ASMR videos take the existing trend and carry it to surreal extremes, but they ditch the relaxing part. They're a horror show. People eat sizzling panels of honey and blocks of fired metal. They kneading molten lava and crush rocks that fail to respect the laws of physics. Its torture ASMR, but nobody gets hurt because they're not real. The trend has been made possible by new, more accurate and consistent AI video models like Google Veo 3. But despite the leap in photorealism, with more realistic lighting and camera motion, the output is still very obviously AI. Objects don't behave as they should. They can change inconsistently from shot to another. And because it's all edited by AI, sound and image often don't match up. They also lack any feeling of intimacy. Real ASMR videos feel like they're inviting you to be complicit in a secret. The feel personal and human even if the subject is an object or machine. A lot of the AI ASMR videos on TikTok seem to be intended to trigger people in a different way. They aim to create an ambiguous feeling of surprise, disgust and fascination. It seems to work for some because these videos are getting thousands of views and likes. I find them ugly and repellent, and yet I want to keep watching to see if I find one either weirder than the last - and that's a deep and surreal hole to get sucked down. I'm guessing that these videos probably appeal to different people from traditional ASMR fans. The problem, like with so much of AI content on social media, is that they make it more difficult to find human-created content. I'm hoping it's a novelty fad that lasts no longer than the Chat GPT AI Ghibli trend. For more AI tech news, see this week's launch of Adobe Firefly Boards, which looks like it could be a game changer for creative agencies.