Why are famous cartoon characters being turned into inspirational quotes with AI on TikTok?
There’s a new trend on TikTok that is centered around posting motivational and “grindset” photos, but with a twist. Instead of just using quotes, users are featuring artificial intelligence-created images of famous animated characters.
Users have taken characters such as Peter Griffin (Family Guy), Nemo (Finding Nemo) and George (Curious George) and used AI to transform them into hip-hop-influenced people who wear flashy designer clothes and gold chains. Then the pictures are put into three-photo slideshows, with the quote including a character-based pun.
“Been running these streets for a while, but I still nemo paper,” writes @luhcalmtiktok.
Viewers also continue the trend by adding their own spin on the meme in the comment section.
“They always ask if I’m ok. I just say I’m crushing it. But I just Nemo time,” replied @gawdshawtylifts.
“I used to roam the streets cus I was curious, but now I stay stacking up george,” writes @goatec in their post.
This isn’t the first time TikTokers have merged AI and cartoon characters. As AI has become popular on the app, users have used to it to make musical covers of popular songs with famous cartoon characters, from Patrick Star (SpongeBob Squarepants) to Eric Cartman (South Park).
The trend builds off of similar formats seen on the internet, such as the memes found on the popular Reddit page r/getmotivated. In these memes, famous motivational quotes are plastered on an image — many times with the speaker’s face on the graphic.
TikTokers have long been interested in motivational content, making the AI-generated cartoon characters another extension of users’ interest. The hashtag #motivation has over 374 billion views on the app.
While plenty of creators have put their own spin on the trend — using different characters and music — the main audio for these picture sets is from Zeus (@.zeusfilmz). Zeus’s original post received over 478,000 views, used a slowed-down version of Mac Demarco’s “For the First Time” and is now the soundtrack for over 35,000 posts.
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