As Grand Theft Auto 6 inches towards its November release date and people grow anxious for a proper gameplay trailer, GTA6 AI slop is raking in millions of views on social media.
These AI-generated videos are, in some cases, garnering millions of views on apps like Instagram and Tiktok. Though many eyes may be drawn to these hastily cobbled-together representations of Rockstar Games' blockbuster, the reaction they're receiving is anything but glowing.
Starting with Instagram, this AI-generated video from Nexifygaming shows a woman in a white dress living it large on the back of a yacht. It has 1.1m views, with its creator writing: "The ocean, yacht interiors, character details & cinematic atmosphere look ABSOLUTELY REAL. Next-gen realism is on another level!" The words "Vige city" are viewable below the map, and at the bottom the prompt "press [Button] to drink chamchnapane" are clearly visible. The waiter and the rich lady on the boat share the same voice.
Actual interaction with this post doesn't appear to be as high as the views would indicate, and they aren't overly positive. The most liked comment comes from DrPenguin1214, who simply wrote "AI" in response. Others are simple responses like "good" or "It's AI but it could possibly be like this 🙌 ". Others are outwardly against the use of AI, like number.no4 who wrote: "chamchsnapane😂😂😂". Multiple "AI detected" gifs have been hidden either by the author of the post or due to automatic spam detection.
There are many more examples of posts just like this. Take this AI-generated GTA6 surfing video, again on Instagram, with 1.2m views and roughly 33k likes. It shows the player character briefly ride the waves across the beach, before doing a trick off the spin of another surfer. Its most liked reply simply states: "GTA 6 but from Temu". Or take this video of a GTA6 entering a car on Tiktok, with 4.4m views and around 120k likes. Again, not much in the place of positivity in the comments, with popular retorts including "holy AI", "If it turns out like this I'm suing", and "love how the car changes". That last comment referencing the feature vehicle morphing from an El Cameo into a square body track as the AI struggled with perspective changes.
Other AI videos turning up on people's feeds veer into the absurd. Like this Instagram post showing a hand-to-hand brawl on the back of a moving plane. The plane, of course, is flying backwards - it's propellers being the wrong way round. The video clearly shows the aerial brawl taking place above the ocean, while the mini-map features nothing but city streets. Again, the comments are full to bursting with anti-AI messages and laughing emotes.
To Rockstar Games' credit, some viral AI-generated posts on X are being DMCA stuck. This move has been gone down well with GTA hopefuls, who have grown annoyed by the deluge of such videos. X user DustyDroid shared their perspective, writing: "Good they are stupid as hell along with the tools who push that ai garbage", while others speculate it's because these AI videos looked a little too close to the actual game.
So why are these videos being made, and why are they bringing in so many views despite a general anti-AI sentiment. Well, putting aside the fact AI-slop is quick and easy to make, these videos are filling a ferocious void in GTA fans' hearts that only a proper gameplay video can fill.
If you take a quick look at community hubs for Grand Theft Auto 6 - like the GTA6 Reddit, you'll see post-after-post about the game's marketing. Or, in the eyes of some, the lack thereof. While many are content to sit back and wait patiently, there's a real appetite for more GTA footage.
Whether this AI slopathon will increase in intensity as the weeks pass and we inch closer to Grand Theft Auto 6's release date is anyone's guess. Perhaps the game will be an industry trend-setter for good and for bad, and these sorts of social media AI videos will become a permanent part of AAA game's pre-launch hype cycle. Or perhaps, negative sentiment will push them away from people's social media feeds altogether. One can hope.