AI slop has infected every social media platform, from soulless images to bizarre videos and superficially literate text. The vast majority of US adults who use social media (94%) believe they encounter content that was created or altered by AI, but only 44% of US adults say they're confident they can tell real photos and videos from AI-generated ones, according to an exclusive CNET survey. That's a big problem.
There are a lot of different ways people are fighting back against AI content. Some solutions are focused on better labels for AI-created content, since it's harder than ever to trust our eyes. Of the 2,443 respondents who use social media, half (51%) believed we need better AI labels online. Others (21%) believe there should be a total ban on AI-generated content on social media. Only a small group (11%) of respondents say they find AI content useful, informative or entertaining.
AI isn't going anywhere, and it's fundamentally reshaping the internet and our relationship with it. Our survey shows that we still have a long way to go to reckon with it.
Key findings
Most US adults who use social media (94%) believe they encounter AI content on social media, yet far fewer (44%) can confidently distinguish between real and fake images and videos.
Many US adults (72%) said they take action to determine if an image or video is real, but some don't do anything, particularly among Boomers (36%) and Gen Xers (29%).
Half of US adults (51%) believe AI-generated and edited content needs better labeling.
One in five (21%) believe AI content should be prohibited on social media, with no exceptions.
US adults don't feel they can spot AI media
Seeing is no longer believing in the age of AI. Tools like OpenAI's Sora video generator and Google's Nano Banana image model can create hyperrealistic media, with chatbots smoothly assembling swaths of text that sound like a real person wrote them.
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