59% of TikTok's New User Feed Is AI-Generated 'Slop,' Kapwing Research Finds

Summary

Kapwing's comprehensive research reveals that TikTok has a significant AI-generated content problem, with 59% of videos served to new users classified as low-quality "slop" — careless, mass-produced content designed to farm views and engagement. This rate is nearly three times higher than YouTube's 21%, according to analysis of the first 500 videos shown to fresh accounts. The research also found that 57.4% of TikTok videos aimed at children are AI-generated, with the Kids category showing the highest slop density across all content categories. Science & Education (35%), Health (33.8%), and History (33.5%) categories are similarly affected, raising concerns about AI-generated content competing with authoritative educational sources. While TikTok announced a tool in 2025 to help users control AI content visibility, the prevalence of low-quality generated content remains a major platform issue.

• TikTok had labeled 1.3 billion videos as AI-generated by November 2025, indicating massive scale of the problem
• AI slop in educational content undermines authoritative sources and clutters the discovery experience

Editorial Opinion

TikTok's slop crisis reveals the structural vulnerability of algorithmic feeds that optimize purely for engagement metrics. The platform's significantly higher slop rate compared to YouTube suggests that TikTok's recommendation system may actively promote low-effort AI content as a cost-effective way to maintain feed velocity. With over half of child-targeted content now AI-generated, TikTok faces mounting pressure to prioritize content authenticity and quality alongside growth — a challenge that extends far beyond the platform to the broader ecosystem of generative AI tools.