About

TikTok's AI Meme / Roast Filter refers to a controversial filter added to TikTok in which a user uploads a photo of themselves and then AI generates an image macro based on the filter. Though it's officially called "AI Meme Maker," it has been colloquially referred to as the "AI Roast," as many of the "memes" generated are insults about the people posting them, including insults about users' weight.

Origin

While it's unclear when exactly TikTok introduced the AI Meme Maker filter, it appears to have launched in mid-August of 2023. On August 18th, user @mrmustachesmom^[1] posted their results from using the filter, and the resulting image macro was an insulting joke about her weight. The TikTok gained over 1.8 million likes in two months (shown below).

Spread

Over the following day, the app saw increased popularity as users began commenting on the insulting "memes" generated by AI on the filter. On August 19th, 2023, Twitter user @venturetwins^[2] posted examples of insulting memes, gaining over 190 retweets and 3,400 likes in two months (shown below).

The filter appears to have been taken offline for some time for an unstated reason but was reintroduced in mid-September of 2023.^[3] The filter continued to insult users in various ways. Popular examples from after the app's reintroduction include a September 24th post by @mossrecovery_official that gained over 4,000 likes in two weeks (shown below, left) and a post the same day by @briannaxrenee that gained over 2,200 likes in the same time frame (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable

External References