If you’ve never heard the term “skibidi” or “sigma,” congratulations, your brain is not yet rotted. Brainrot is a term used to describe low-quality internet content and the effects of spending too much time consuming it. Otherwise known as, being terminally online. However, several AI-based study tools are putting it to good use.
The “PDF to brainrot” sees the text of a document read by an automated voice-over as “oddly satisfying videos, such as ASMR clips of mixing paint and cutting soap, or gameplay footage from ">Minecraft and ">Subway Surfers.” These types of accounts rack up millions of followers, drawing viewers in with the oddly relaxing and repetitive footage. AI-based study tools are now capitalizing on this trend, with students using text-to-speech programs that read aloud their textbooks to them while they stay focused by watching these mindless videos.
Companies including Coconote and StudyRot are now letting users turn their study guides into brainrot videos, catering to the short attention spans of Gen Alpha. Some even translate the material into Gen Alpha slang (if you’ve ever wanted to know if Abraham Lincoln had rizz or Christopher Columbus was a sigma male, now’s your chance to find out).
According to TikTok, these PDF-to-brainrot generators are now appearing in classrooms. “Resorting to the TikTok method for teaching,” one teacher posted, as Temple Run plays on the whiteboard behind her. “Is this actually what college has become,” another creator asks, as she shows the brainrot video assigned by her professor. However, as TechCrunch identified, when you look closer at the creator’s page, every video she’s posted appears to be undisclosed Coconote ads, begging the question, if this trend is really a trend at all or just thinly veiled sponsored content.
Whether creators are really using brainrot videos to study and teachers are actually playing Subway Surfers videos during their lectures still remains to be seen. However, if it helps Gen Alpha get their homework done then that counts as a win.
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