He is the hottest man in the latest reality romance show that will captivate the audience. But “Bananito” is not your average suitor. You are an AI — and a talking banana.
In 10 days, these anthropomorphic fruits – the stars of the TikTok series called “Fruit Love Island” (inspired by the Peacock’s “Love Island” franchise) – attracted more than 3.3 million followers on the AI.Cinema021 account on TikTok.
The episodes, which air daily, are formatted as microdramas, or bite-size, scripted shows, made for mobile. Their popularity comes as creators use “AI slop,” which Merriam-Webster defines as “low-quality digital content that is often mass-produced using artificial intelligence.”
Videos of AI fruits have been trending on social media since February, according to online site Know Your Meme. The TikTok account trombonechef started posting videos about strawberry and her extramarital affair with her eggplant employer.
Since then, dozens of accounts have created videos with unusual episodes with various fruits – apples, mangoes, oranges and more. The most viral videos feature fruits in ridiculous situations, from embarrassing stories with other fruits to children being thrown overboard (yes, really). There was also controversy in the popular youth show “The Summer I Turned Pretty”: “The Summer I Turned Fruity.”
Millions of users have also subscribed to more PG AI fruit and vegetable videos aimed at helping adults with healthy eating tips and kitchen hacks.
The AI fruit videos are so unchanging that some TikTok users have taken to recreating the AI fruit sagas with human content. Kaylor Martin and JaNa Craig, two alums from the “Love Island USA” franchise, recently made a video reacting to a series of false facts.
But not everyone is a fan. As with other viral AI trends, critics say the content is problematic because it lacks human intelligence. The videos are often choppy, end abruptly, and feature nonsensical expressions.
Pop star Zara Larsson hit back after posting a video on TikTok where she wrote, “Sorry I can’t hang out today, I have to see what’s going on with the choclatina and strawberto.” Fans accused him of promoting artificial AI.
She defended her interest in AI fruit, saying in a recent video: “I’m just a girl with a phone at the end of the day. And I really just want to be funny sometimes and I want to connect with people.”
The video has since been released on Larsson’s social media accounts.
Amaya Espinal, another student of “Love Island”, is not in this trend.
“That’s so crazy,” he said in a TikTok Live session, the recording of which was shared on his followers’ X account. “next thing you know you’ll see if—— your duplicate walking down the street if you keep up with this Fruit Island s—.”
In the “AntiAI” community on Reddit, a user asked, “How do people really enjoy this AI Fruit Love Island slop?”
“Every video has millions of views,” the user wrote. Everyone seems to be having so much fun but I can’t wrap my head around why. It’s silly, uninteresting, and hard to watch. Is this really what we call entertainment now? It feels like we are progressing as a community.”
User X wrote: “There are billions of amazing stories in libraries, and thousands of amazing movies and tv shows that you can watch at the click of a button, and you’re scrolling through the love island of AI fruits.”
Others have pointed out the impact that AI is producing on the environment. As the technology becomes mainstream, the power demand of data centers is increasing, the Associated Press reported in August.
“One bottle of water will be worth an entire bar of gold in 2029 that’s why,” wrote user X, attaching a screenshot of a TikTok video featuring “cherrita.”
But experts say don’t expect such content to become the norm.
“This is basically a video version of fan fiction,” said Michael Grabowski, a professor of communications, audio and media arts at Manhattan University. “Shows like ‘Love Island’ rely on simple archetypes and predictable dynamics, making it very easy for AI to replicate and remix at scale.”
Grabowski, who researches the principles of virtual reality and AI, believes that “there is still a place for human storytellers, even if AI takes over some of the simple or artificial observation that you are watching.
He said: “If you want that sense of outrage or a unique story, we’ll always need people for that.”
Jessica Maddox, an associate professor of media studies at the University of Georgia, was more critical. He said he could “1,000%” see Hollywood “adapting an AI fruit film, but a tamer version so they can run it as a PG.”
“I think it’s because these creators use such an identifying IP [like ‘Love Island’] that helped make this breed popular,” he added.
Seeing the huge amount of engagement in the fruit videos also led Maddox to believe that, for better or worse, artificial intelligence has become “very mainstream.”
As for the future of “Fruit Love Island”, the creator behind AI.Cinema021 seems to be posting. Episode 20, released on Monday and titled “Boys Casa Amor Part One,” features a meeting of the men’s passion fruit, a love fruit from Massachusetts; Limeyra, Miami lime; and Razzelena, a raspberry from Atlanta.
However, a TikTok user said on Tuesday that because some of the account’s videos are being removed from the platform, the entire series will be available for viewing on YouTube.
