What the biggest viral videos of 2025 teach us about AI

Whether it’s animals on the porch, actors on the catwalk or footballers in the White House 2025 has been a huge year for viral videos and particularly those created by artificial intelligence.

As the year wraps up, BBC Bitesize Other Side of the Story looks back at some of the biggest videos to have stopped you in your scrolls.

Viral videos filmed from POV

One trend from back at the beginning of year was point of view (POV) videos. These viral videos go from the evolution of a chicken over 530 million years, to 39.2 million views and two million likes, to another of someone waking up as an American teenager in the 1960s, getting 19.2 million views and just over two million likes.

While on the surface, these videos look very close to what we might expect from these periods, historians have called these videos inaccurate and “amateurish”. A POV of Pompeii in 79AD shows inaccuracies in its depiction of how Mount Vesuvius erupted. A POV of the First World War shows more modern-day tanks, while the earliest tanks were invented in 1916, two years after the War began.

While these are a fun jumping-off point into history, as AI evolves it’s important to always fact check what we are seeing against official sources, such as reputable historians, so we can separate fact and AI fiction.

Who are Tilly Norwood and TaTa Taktumi?

One character who was subject of much debate this year was company Particle6’s AI actress, Tilly Norwood.

Her first video, AI Commissioner, gained 584k views and since then, the AI-created actress Tilly Norwood has been divisive. With 68k Instagram followers since her account was created on 6 May, Tilly has even had talent agencies offering to represent her. This hasn’t gone unnoticed, with actors such as Emily Blunt, Natasha Lyonne and Whoopi Goldberg speaking out against her and what her videos might mean for the future of real-life actors.

In October, Timbaland debuted his latest musical prodigy, TaTa Taktumi - an AI creation. In what Timbaland dubbed ‘APop’ (AI Pop), TaTa Taktumi has released a full-length single and music video - despite not actually existing - with one promotional post on X gaining 8.9 million views.

Despite the number of views, viewers online are divided, with some calling TaTa “soulless”.

Why are there cats playing on the porch?

From a white rabbit tapping a pocket watch gaining 25.7m views, to a series of cats playing instruments on the porch generating 17.6m views, these viral AI animal videos have been making people around the world laugh. But what is the appeal of the videos?

While the AI visually appears often near perfect, its purpose of creating out of this world scenarios - animals behaving human-like on porches, in supermarkets or in your local fast food restaurant - creates an irreverent comedy that’s similar to the appeal of other trends from the year, such as '6-7'.

These videos can be fun to watch and share, especially if you love animals! It's worth remembering that some of these videos are made to make people think they’re real. They might like or even share them because they’re so unbelievable. So, before you share make sure you know whether you’re sharing a fun bit of AI or something you, and others, might think is true.

Actors do a little turn on the catwalk

You might have spotted online clips of actors doing catwalk-like strides alongside some of their most well known characters.

In one such video, which gained 30.6 million TikTok views, Bradley Cooper walks alongside the animated raccoon Rocket from Guardians of the Galaxy which he voiced, Josh Brolin with Thanos from Marvel's Avengers movies and the late Chadwick Boseman alongside Black Panther.

Another video with 23.1 million TikTok views features Margot Robbie alongside Harley Quinn, Tom Holland with Spiderman and Angelina Jolie hanging with Maleficent.

While these videos are clearly AI, this same technology could be used to create more realistic scenarios and celebrities' likenesses have been used to scam fans. According to McAfee, an online consumer protection company, seven in 10 people in the UK have seen fake celebrity endorsements at some point. When you're watching videos of celebrities, check that what you’re watching is genuine. Has it come from a verified social account?

Did Donald Trump play football with Ronaldo in The White House?

In November, US president Donald Trump posted a video where he supposedly played keepy-uppy and did some dribbling with Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. It was captioned: “Ronaldo is a GREAT GUY. Loved meeting him at the White House. Really smart, and cool!!! President DJT”

The post gained 4.9 million likes on Trump's official Instagram account, but the majority of the comments were about the video being made with AI, even though it wasn't credited as such.

Firstly, the ball doesn’t seem to have any impact on either Trump or Ronaldo’s bodies. Secondly, the ball's spin doesn’t match how a football actually moves when kicked. Thirdly, although it has been confirmed that Ronaldo did visit Trump in the White House in November — the reality of them playing football in the Oval Office is low.

This football video seems relatively harmless. However, when we create or share AI videos online without clarifying that they have been created artificially, it could be shared under the assumption that it is genuine. It’s important to remember when watching a video that, if we don't believe it to be real, sharing it may spread misinformation.

This article was published in December 2025

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