“I thought it was real”: Children are showing off the terrible AI gifts their parents bought for Christmas
The AI slop problem has officially infiltrated Christmas, evidenced by TikTok videos from kids sharing the gifts their parents purchased. AI-generated ads misrepresenting products online recently fooled Melissa Joan Hart, so what chance does the rest of Generation X have?
Some are amused, and others are disappointed—especially when their gifts never arrived at all.
AI ruins a Tara Rule Christmas
All over post-Christmas TikTok this year, folks are sharing footage of the terrible gifts their parents bought online because AI-generated images made them look much higher quality. Some of these older gift givers got the items for their children, others for their spouses, but it's all bad.
Actress and filmmaker Tara Rule (@tara_rule) is among them. In a post that gained over 5.7 million views, she showed off the sweater that her dad thought he had ordered for her mom. That was just one of the disasters that arrived for Christmas morning—or not.
@tara_rule UPDATE IS POSTED #ai ♬ original sound - Tara Rule
"HELP MY DAD BOUGHT MY MOM PRESENTS FOR CHRISTMAS AND THEY'RE ALL AI-GENERATED," the caption reads.
In a follow-up video, she revealed that the cat sweater never came, and she had to have a talk with her dad about AI scams. "If something is way too cheap and looks too good to be true, it probably is," she told him.
On the less famous side of TikTok, @ava_kampa1 displayed what her dad thought was a Tiffany-stained-glass lamp in the shape of a cute little dog. What came was a knockoff that would make anyone blush if they had to sell that to a customer face-to-face.
@ava_kampa1 this is a hate crime ???? #aiscam #facebookscam #christmas #christmas2025 #fyp ♬ original sound - ftc izzyalt
The TikToker called it a "hate crime."
"A waste of money"
If you thought the lamp was bad, it can get so much worse. TikToker @thatdumbathlete showed her followers the train wreck of a mug her mom got online. This video doesn't show the AI image that fooled her mother, but it must have looked far better.
"My mom fell victim to the AI mug scam," the caption says.
Meanwhile, @missbergie contributed to the "Dads falling for AI" trend with footage of her dad trying on the misrepresented sweater he asked for.
"This thing is so lame, it's not even funny," he said.
It doesn't look as bad as many other AI gifts on the list, but he was clearly expecting something much better.
"Thank you, Secret Santa, but this thing was a waste of money," he concluded.
Grandparents likely fared even worse this holiday season. TikToker @hodgepodgers answered the call for AI gift reveals with a highly disappointing advent calendar. Apparently, the ad suggested that each day in the calendar would provide an actual sample of whiskey.
Instead, it was filled with cheap fake bottles or even flat laminated pictures of bottles.
"I thought it was real drinks!" said Grandma.
Better luck next year.
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