Ballerina Cappuccina, as depicted by @brainrotpumpfun, is one of the most well-known (and least controversial) Italian brain-rot characters. Photo: @brainrotpumpfun via TikTok Even if it hasn’t ...

When I first heard about TikTok's new meme trend, Italian brain rot, it reminded me of Sukumar Ray's Abol Tabol, a collection of Bengali nonsense verse. Only that was literature; this is actually ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Leslie Katz covers the intersection of culture, science and tech. Lirili Larila, an elephant-cactus hybrid, is one of the breakout ...

Meet Ballerina Cappuccina and the Italian brain rot crew, an absurd group of A.I.-generated characters that are flooding TikTok. By Alisha Haridasani Gupta The first thing you need to know about ...

In the first half of 2025, she racked up over 55 million views on TikTok and four million likes, mostly from tweens glued to their cellphones. Not bad for an artificial intelligence-generated cartoon ...

If you were born after 2000, or know someone who is, the chances are you’ve come across this ludicrous AI-generated meme. If not, be reassured that its chaotic, nonsensical banality is the point When ...

Is this my “Old Man Yells at (Digital) Cloud” moment? Gone are the days when our memes are all man-made. Just a couple years ago, the internet’s favorite absurd animals were photoshopped images of a ...