The Italian brainrot AI memes only kids know

In a Japanese shop selling pocket-money trinkets, there is a rack of toys, stickers and keyrings based on a global crew of AI-generated characters that almost every child and very few adults knows about.

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TOKYO - In a Japanese shop selling pocket-money trinkets, there is a rack of toys, stickers and keyrings based on a global crew of AI-generated characters that almost every child and very few adults knows about.

A walking shark in oversized sneakers, an orange with muscular arms and a twirling "Ballerina Cappuccina" with a mug for a head are among the strange stars of the online phenomenon called Italian brainrot.

"At first, it's not funny at all, but it kind of grows on you," 16-year-old Yoshi Yamanaka-Nebesney from New York said. "You might use it to annoy someone and find that funny."

The name is a nod to the stupefying effect of scrolling through mindless social media posts, especially over-the-top images created with artificial intelligence tools.

Shouty, crude and often nonsensical Italian voiceovers feature in many of the clips made by people in various countries that began to spread in 2025 on platforms such as TikTok, embraced by young Gen Z and Gen Alpha members.

The dozen-plus cartoonish AI creatures have fast become memes, inspiring a stream of new content such as Brainrot Rap, viewed 116 million times on YouTube.

A YouTube Short titled Learn To Draw 5 Crazy Italian Brainrot Animals - including a cactus-elephant crossover named Lirili Larila - has been watched 320 million times.