What TikTokers get wrong in their viral AI 'history' videos: 'Healthy' and 'modern' people during the Black Death, the wrong kind of eruption at Pompeii and 'absurd' WWI uniforms in the trenches
Put yourself in the shoes of a soldier in the trenches in the First World War, or imagine waking up on a sunny morning in Pompeii hours before annihilation.
That is the experience that hundreds of thousands of people following hugely popular TikTok accounts that post AI-generated history-themed videos are being sold.
Two of the most popular accounts, 'Time Traveller Pov' and 'POV Lab', have nearly one million followers between them and have posted dozens of videos.
But with many of their clips going viral, historians have expressed fears that significant inaccuracies in the portrayals could mislead social media users.
One video posted on the Time Traveller Pov account gives viewers a 'tour' of an Allied trench in 1917, depicting scenes including the 'observation post' and a soldier reading 'letters from my wife'.
But respected military historian Robin Schaefer told MailOnline said it does not have a 'shred of accuracy', branding the uniforms 'absurd'.
Another clip depicting people living in Pompeii on the day the Roman city was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD has also proved controversial.
Historian and archaeologist Dr Hannah Platts pointed out errors ranging from the wrong kind of bread loaves and wine glasses to the representation of the eruption itself.
An AI-generated clip depicting life during the Black Death in 1351. The video features on history-themed account Time Traveller Pov on Tik Tok. At one point, a woman with a bloodied face but seemingly well-groomed hair and a spotless dress stretches out her arms for help while standing in a mud-filled street
She said: 'I think we have a significant responsibility with AI. Just because history is in the past, doesn't mean we can ride roughshod over it.'
And historian Jo Hedwig Teeuwisse, known online as the Fake History Hunter, slammed another account posting AI videos as 'nonsense' and 'rubbish'.
The expert comments come amid a Daily Mail campaign to protect Britain's creative industries from the threat of AI.
Senior figures in the music, media and film industries have warned about the potentially devastating impact of the Labour Government's plans to allow Big Tech firms to ignore copyright rules when they are training their artificial intelligence systems.
Ministers are proposing to change existing laws so that the tech giants can use any online material, such as text, images or music, to improve their AI models – without respecting copyright laws that ensure its creators get paid.
Time Traveller Pov is run by a 26-year-old Briton who gave only his first name, Daniel, when approached by MailOnline. POV Lab was set up by Norwegian man Hogne, 27.
Daniel told MailOnline that his videos are 'meant to be cinematic and immersive, not strict documentaries'.
An AI-generated clip depicting life in Pompeii on the day of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79. The video features on history-themed account Time Traveller Pov on Tik Tok. Historian and archaeologist Dr Hannah Platts pointed out various errors in the video
One video posted on the Time Traveller Pov account gives viewers a 'tour' of Allied quarters in 1917 during the First World War, depicting scenes including the 'observation post' and the 'food tent'
Time Traveller Pov's other videos include one titled, 'POV: You wake up as a Chernobyl worker in 1986'. It then depicts the day that the nuclear disaster in Ukraine occurred
He said: 'I aim to capture the feeling of history, and if they spark curiosity and get people interested in the past, I see that as a success.
'This brings a new audience to the subject that otherwise wouldn't have had an interest in it, it's just a bit of fun.'
The creator added: 'All of my content is labelled as "AI generated" so people know that it isn't real, and AI has its limitations, not every detail is going to be absolutely perfect, it would be impossible.
'I add comical elements to my videos to remind viewers they aren't to be taken too seriously.'
His other videos include one titled, 'POV: You wake up as a Chernobyl worker in 1986'.
It then depicts the day that the nuclear disaster in Ukraine occurred, but with no commitment to accurately portraying what happened.
Barbara Keys, a professor of US history at Durham University, criticised this portrayal.
She said: 'If you Google images of Chernobyl, it doesn't look like what is in the video.
'So it seems like the AI isn't getting the basic facts of what the plant looked like correct.'
She added: 'The fundamental problem is when you are doing history, you are always telling people where your sources come from.
'You're not saying someone told me or a history professor told me. But the AI is not telling us what sources it is using. we don't know what the methodology is.'
Another video shows someone waking up during the Black Death.
At one point, a woman with a bloodied face but seemingly well-groomed hair and a spotless dress stretches out her arms for help while standing in a mud-filled street.
Clips posted by the POV Lab account include both ancient and modern representations
Professor Keys said the portrayal is 'like a Disney movie rendition of a medieval town', with supposedly impoverished sick people looking 'very healthy' and 'modern'.
Also depicted in a clip is the day in 1945 when the US dropped the world's first atom bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
It begins with a first person view of someone looking out onto the city from their bed, shortly after waking up.
One of the final scenes depicts the unfolding carnage as the bomber Enola Gay is flown away shortly after dropping the bomb, which killed more than 100,000 civilians.
Mr Schaefer said of the trenches video: 'This isn't a depiction of the First World War at all.
'Without a shred of accuracy to ground it, the video's trenches, fighting conditions, absurd uniforms and weapons, and bizarre mix of video game aesthetics and distorted visuals make it utterly nonsensical and a terrible representation.'
Speaking more generally, he added: 'At this point in time, these AI videos depicting historical events have no value.
'Even if one were to charitably view them as fantastical or artistical imaginings, their inherent lack of visual cohesion renders them profoundly unconvincing.
'The absence of stylistic and design consistency and the clear inability to build these depictions on historically solid source material completely shatters any sense of believability.
Another POV Lab video is titled, 'POV: You are a kid in the Stone Age (3000BC)'. Viewers see out of a child's eyes as they wake up inside a cave on a bed made of fur
'They are as illuminating as a toddler's crayon scrawls, offering no genuine insight or accurate representation of the past.'
The Pompeii video shows a citizen waking up on an idyllic day, with Mount Vesuvius visible amidst blue skies.
The clip then shifts to someone picking from an array of sumptuous food and long-stemmed glasses filled with wine.
Later in the clip is a market scene, with someone shown holding a loaf of bread in a basket.
And a group of high-status men are seen seated at a dining table enjoying a meal, before the carnage of the eruption.
As disaster strikes, people who are seemingly wearing modern clothes run for their lives through the cobbled streets before the lava engulfs the city and the surrounding area.
But Dr Platts, a lecturer in ancient history at Royal Holloway University in London, was keen to highlight various inaccuracies.
She said: 'This video is interesting but it is inaccurate right from the start.
'The representation of the eruption doesn't reflect what we know, not just eye witness accounts but also geological research. I think that is problematic.'
The expert said the all-male dining scene does not reflect 'the elite Roman convivium', which she said was open to women.
And they would not be sitting on chairs, but instead 'reclining on couches' while propping themselves up.
Dr Platts added: 'The real shame for me was the representation of the bread loaf.
'We have carbonised bread loaves that were found, and we have brilliant wall paintings that are the same as the remains that have been excavated.
'But that is not what is depicted in this video. My problem with these videos is that this evidence and information is out there.
'It is accessible, so I don't understand why it's not being used.'
Another POV Lab clip shows a child waking up in Ancient Egypt in the year 1250BC
She added: 'The problem is, we run the risk of people writing history to suit what they want, or writing history that is not properly researched and quickly and cheaply done, and that worries me.'
Clips posted by the POV Lab account include both ancient and modern representations.
One is titled, 'POV: You are a kid in the Stone Age (3000BC)'. Viewers see out of a child's eyes as they wake up inside a cave on a bed made of fur.
They are then seen running outside with their siblings before joining their father on a wild boar hunt.
Another POV Lab clip shows a child waking up in Ancient Egypt in the year 1250BC.
A third video takes viewers into the 20th century, depicting the 1969 Moon landing by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
At one point, one of the astronauts is seen speeding along in a lunar rover.
In reality, there was no buggy on the 1969 mission. The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) was first used on the on the Apollo 15 mission in 1971.
POV Lab's creator has been approached for comment.
