Deepfakes of celebrities such as Taylor Swift, Ice Spice, Drake, and even the late Queen Elizabeth are teaching math to kids in viral TikTok videos.
According to a report by CBC, popular content creators on TikTok are using AI to manipulate the likeness of famous figures to explain theories in mathematic, physics, and engineering.
@onlocklearning INTRO TO LOGARITHMS this time with Ice Spice and Elon🔥🔥 Lots of people have found this BAP word helpful to remind them what a logarithm written like this actually means. But of course you can remember how to use logs however you want!🫡 This is not real footage of Elon Musk or Ice Spice. It is a deep fake (generated by AI). This footage is made for education purposes only👀
♬ original sound – onlocklearning
In a TikTok video posted by @onlocklearning, which has amassed over 10 million views, a deepfake of rapper @Ice Spice explains logarithmic functions.
@onlocklearning Kim K and Taylor finish finding the definite integral🔥🔥 if this didn’t make sense you can watch the videos leading up to this one🫡 ⚠️DISCLAIMER⚠️: This is not real audio/video of Kim Kardashian or of Taylor Swift. 🦜Celebrity voices were made with ParrotAI (download link in bio☝️)🦜 🎵All background music (in order)🎵: 22 (instrumental) · Taylor Swift DIOR · Положение Blank space (instrumental) · Taylor Swift #calculus #integration #functions #maths #engineering #physics
♬ original sound – onlocklearning
In another TikTok video posted by the same content creator, deepfakes of Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian work together to teach young viewers about the calculus concept of the definite integral.
‘I Learned Something in One Minute’
In the videos, @onlocklearning does provide a disclaimer to let social media users know that the celebrities in these educational clips are AI-generated.
@onlocklearning Drake and Lizzie vibe out to some TRIGONOMETRY🔥 I know there’s WAYYYY more to trigonometry (like understanding it using the unit circle and stuff), and we’ll get to that in the future🫡 ⚠️DISCLAIMER⚠️: This is not real audio/video of Drake or Queen Elizabeth II. All video and speech was computer generated to help others learn about maths, physics, and engineering. All background music (in order): Passion Fruit – Drake Prolly my spookiest beat – PRODBY668 KALEO – Way Down We Go #trigonometry #maths #engineering #physics
♬ original sound – onlocklearning
“This is not real audio/video of Drake or Queen Elizabeth II. All video and speech was computer generated to help others learn about math, physics, and engineering,” @onlocklearning writes in the caption for a video of the rapper and the late monarch explaining trigonometry.
And according to the comments on the platform, it appears that these celebrity deepfakes are genuinely helping young viewers understand mathematical theories.
“I learned something in one minute [that] my teacher would have taken a whole class or two to teach us,” a TikTok user comments.
Another viewer writes: “This taught me what my teacher couldn’t teach in six months.”
‘How Much Do They Really Learn From These Deepfakes?’
However, CBC reports that while the deepfakes of such celebrities have the potential to draw students to a subject, educational psychologists see a possible risk developing through deepfake lessons if those who see the images on TikTok start to trust or develop relationships with the AI portrayals themselves.
Furthermore, while the emerging trend of AI deepfake lessons can be an effective supplementary tool to draw students’ interests — particularly individuals who face learning barriers in their education — some experts are concerned at the surface-level nature of these videos.
“It may draw in others that have not necessarily felt that they belonged in mathematics,” Krista Muis, a professor at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, tells CBC.
“They may pay attention to these for a very short period of time, but the question is how much do they really learn from these? Does this really promote deep learning?”
Image credits: Header photo via TikTok/@onlocklearning.
