TikTok’s new AI photo tool turns normie cats into hydra-headed felines

TikTok’s new AI Alive feature transforms still photos into animated videos, but the results often veer into unsettling territory rather than enhancing images as intended. The feature, part of the broader integration of AI into everyday apps, produces bizarre distortions that highlight the current limitations of generative AI technology when applied to common personal content like pet photos.

The big picture: TikTok has joined the AI race with its new AI Alive feature, which transforms static images into short video clips based on user prompts.

• The tool represents another step in the widespread integration of AI features across popular social media platforms and smartphone applications.
• Currently limited to TikTok Stories, the feature allows users just five creations per day.

How it works: Users select a photo, provide a prompt or select a suggested one, and within two minutes receive an AI-generated video animation of their image.

• The feature is accessible through the profile tab, where users tap the plus icon on their profile photo and select AI Alive after choosing a picture.
• The system processes the image and creates a motion sequence based on the selected prompt or suggestion.

Reality check: The author’s experiments with pet photos produced consistently strange and often disturbing results rather than natural animations.

• One cat photo resulted in unnatural head morphing and movement that created a disturbing two-headed effect.
• A squirrel image inexplicably transformed into a fanged creature that appeared to be vomiting.
• Other attempts with cat and dog photos produced similarly distorted creatures with multiple limbs and bizarre movements.

Between the lines: These unsettling results reflect the current limitations of consumer-facing generative AI when applied to common personal content like pet photos.

• The bizarre outputs suggest that while AI image generation has advanced significantly, creating natural-looking animations from still images remains technically challenging.
• The feature’s unpredictable and often disturbing results highlight that AI integration in consumer apps often prioritizes novelty over reliability.