Italian Brainrot: the AI memes only kids know

In a Japanese shop selling pocket-money trinkets, there is a rack of toys, stickers and keyrings based on a global crew of AI-generated characters that almost every child knows about — and very few adults.

A walking shark in oversized sneakers, an orange with muscular arms and a twirling “Ballerina Cappuccina” with a mug for a head are among the strange stars of the online phenomenon called Italian Brainrot.

“At first it’s not funny at all, but it kind of grows on you,” 16-year-old Yoshi Yamanaka-Nebesney from New York told AFP.

“You might use…