Meta’s new AI TikTok clone gives me bad Vibes

Summary

• Vibes surfaces AI-generated videos to inspire creative experiments with Meta AI’s media tools.
• Feed personalizes over time; tap videos you like to create, remix, and share your own clips.
• Meta AI app also generates videos, offers a chatbot, and pairs with Meta smart glasses for management.

Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp parent company Meta has officially announced a new platform for discovering and creating AI video content: Vibes. With artificially generated short-form videos at the forefront, the service provides visual creation tools, a remix function, and various music tracks and styles to choose from when crafting new media. Of course, you can also scroll through a never-ending pipeline of algorithmically curated videos from other creators, too.

Rather than launching as a standalone application, Vibes lives as a dedicated feed within the already existing Meta AI app for iOS and Android. A separate web app experience is also available for desktop and PC users.

In terms of actual app interface flow, Vibes allows you to create a project from scratch, edit a video from your camera roll, or remix a video that you’ve discovered through the feed. Vibe videos can be cross-posted to Instagram and Facebook Stories and Reels.

“Vibes is designed to make it easier to find creative inspiration and experiment with Meta AI’s media tools. As you browse, you’ll see a range of AI-generated videos from creators and communities. The feed will become more personalized over time, and if something catches your eye, you can create your own video, remix what you see, and share it with friends and followers,” writes Meta in a blog post.

Technically speaking, Vibes is in preview state for the time being, and Meta says it’s working on bringing “even more powerful creation tools and models” to the service, which will roll out more widely sometime “in the future.”

AI slop meets TikTok reels

Just what the doctor ordered

If Vibes sounds an awful lot like TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Snapchat Spotlight, or even Meta’s own Reels service, that’s because it is. The big differentiating factor here is that, instead of quirky dance trends and off-putting challenges, your feed is filled with… racoons in streetwear that are sipping on lattes, and a moose jumping on a residential trampoline.

At least, those are two of the very first examples provided by Meta in its announcement post for Vibes. Personally, I don’t see a lot of uniqueness, entertainment value, or human artistry in these types of AI-generated videos, but then again, perhaps I’m simply too old and out of touch to ‘get it’ (my birth year starts with a 19, after all).

For now, I’ll try and keep an open mind about the concept.

In any case, Meta’s new Vibes app is ready to take today’s era of short-form video reels to the next level with AI front and center. With infrastructural backing from Instagram and Facebook at the helm, I expect the service to launch itself into the forefront of the social media world in no time at all.

For now, I’ll try and keep an open mind about the concept — who knows, maybe soon enough I’ll find myself gleefully ‘Vibing’ videos of cows meditating in yoga gear and medieval knights on treadmills to every last one of my friends and colleagues.