Italian Brainrot e Inteligencia Artificial Generativa. El hiperengament de lo absurdo en TikTok
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4185/rlcs-2027-2581Palabras clave:
Italian Brainrot, GenAI, Engagement, Generación Alpha, Generación Z, TikTok, estética absurdaResumen
Introducción: Este trabajo se centra en el estudio de Italian Brainrot, un universo de personajes absurdos creados y animados con Inteligencia Artificial Generativa (GenAI), surgidos a mediados de enero de 2025 y con niveles de notoriedad, engagement y viralidad sin precedentes entre la Generación Z y la Generación Alpha. Metodología: Se ha visualizado una muestra de 300 vídeos cortos de TikTok, 30 para cada uno de los 10 personajes más populares (entre los que se encuentran Ballerina Cappuccina, Tralalero Tralalá o Tung Tung Tung Sahur). Se extraen datos concernientes a likes, comentarios, compartidos y visualizaciones; y se estima su Engagement Rate. Se describen cualitativamente tanto los personajes, bajo la perspectiva estética de lo absurdo, como los comentarios de los usuarios. Resultados: La principal consecuencia es un Engagement Rate superior al 25% y una conexión emocional muy superior a la de otros fenómenos digitales virales. Discusión: La productividad exponencial de significados aleatorios que permite la GenAI y la fascinación por lo absurdo que provocan los Italian Brainrot explicarían, junto con el algoritmo de TikTok, los altos niveles de engagement emocional entre adolescentes y preadolescentes, de ahí que se defina el hiperengagement. Conclusiones: Se encuentra en el fenómeno Italian Brainrot unos niveles de engagement sin precedentes, muy superiores a otros fenómenos anteriores virales, inaugurando la nueva era de la cultura popular algorítmica 100 % made by GenAI.
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