Short AI Videos: Do You Really Want to Watch Them?

Artificial intelligence threatens disruption of all sorts of industries and firms. Consider the threats to video sharing sites such as Instagram, which historically has featured user-generated short videos. 

What happens when users are exposed to a flood of AI-generated videos? For many users, a loss of interest is likely. Some users will not want to watch synthetic video resembling short animated videos, videogame style content or other scripted content. 

The “charm” has been real life, captured in short videos, often humorous or otherwise unusual. That interest goes away, for many, if the content is simply short, scripted, imaginary video. A video of a funny mishap is one thing. The same scripted mishap might not be so compelling. 

An amazing human or natural occurrence is one thing. A staged, produced, imagined short story might not have the same compelling nature. User-generated content often feels authentic: raw and genuine, reflecting real-life experiences, emotions, and imperfections. 

AI content will have an authenticity challenge. 

The corollary is that the audience shrinks, which attacks the ad revenue model. 

Threat	How it Works	Implication
Content floods	Mass AI video generation overwhelms feeds	Erodes trust, engagement, and quality drop
Distribution shifts	AI lets creators bypass platform algorithms	Reduces Instagram’s gatekeeping power
Behavior change	Personalized AI feeds displace static social feeds	Users migrate to new experiences
Ad disruption	Ads embedded in AI content or custom feeds	Instagram loses ad market share
AI-powered competitors	New platforms born AI-native	Instagram risks being out-innovated
Deep fake crisis	Synthetic humans and events proliferate	User trust, safety, and brand value erode