ITALIAN BRAINROT

THE AI MEMES ONLY KIDS KNOW

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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 knows about — and very few adults.

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," said 16-year-old Yoshi Yamanaka-Nebesney from New York. "You might use it to annoy someone and find that funny."

The name nods 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 this year 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 also been watched 320 million times.