About

Korean Baseball AI Trend, also known as KBO TV Trend, Korean AI Courtside Trend or Baseball AI Trend, refers to a South Korean trend wherein internet users utilize AI-powered video-generation tools to place themselves courtside at a live Korean baseball broadcast, usually a KBO event (the highest level professional baseball league in South Korea). After emerging on X / Twitter in early May 2026, the trend eventually spread to the United States, particularly on Instagram Reels, as users began editing themselves into the stands or bleachers of various sports events to make it seem as if they were being shown on the TV camera of the broadcast.

Origin

The trend started in South Korea in early May 2026, and centers on using AI video-generation tools and various prompts to insert oneself (or others) into KBO TV footage to make it seem like they're being shown on a fan cam during the sporting event.

The earliest known post that spawned the trend comes from a May 2nd, 2026, tweet by X / Twitter^[4] user @kangminlee, who shared an AI-generated video of a Korean woman at a baseball game sitting in the stands, captioned, "The average Korean woman." The post garnered over 15 million views, 28,000 likes and 1,400 comments in 11 days.

The average Korean woman pic.twitter.com/D6gayM6L3m

— Kangmin Lee | 이강민 (@kangminlee) May 2, 2026

The tweet was initially not labeled AI-generated content, which notably sparked media coverage among South Korean outlets,^[5][6] as well as backlash online.^[7]

The post eventually spread to regions beyond South Korea and became a trend as people began placing themselves into similar scenes, though the KBO element (or baseball in general) remained intact. The trend became particularly popularized on Instagram among Western and U.S. social media users by mid-May 2026.

On May 10th, 2026, Instagram^[1] user @somdattaaa posted an early example of the "Korean AI Trend" featuring an AI-generated video made in accordance with the trend and its prompts, which received over 159,200 likes in just two days.

Spread

The KBO AI trend continued to spread over the following days as more social media users shared examples of themselves in a similar setting, especially on Instagram and Twitter / X.

For example, on May 11th, 2026, Instagram^[2] user @thisenola posted a similar video, which received over 358,000 likes in one day.

That same day, Instagram^[3] user @akita_hooligan participated in the trend, this time placing an Akita dog in the crowd. The post received over 237,100 likes in one day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References