Fake AI videos have new generation loving 1980s life

SAN FRANCISCO

A growing wave of hyper-realistic artificial intelligence videos is pulling young viewers into a dreamy, idealized version of the 1980s, creating an online nostalgia for a decade many of them never experienced.

Clips circulating on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube show teens with throwback hairstyles biking through sun-soaked suburbs, hanging out in neon-lit arcades or dancing to hits like “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” Though entirely fabricated, the videos look strikingly authentic at first glance.

The trend, widely referred to as “AI nostalgia,” is powered by tools such as OpenAI’s Sora, Google’s Veo and Luma AI’s Ray. Accounts like Maximal Nostalgia, Purest Nostalgia and utopic.dreamer craft soft-focused, cinematic scenes that evoke feel-good movies from the era. Their creators are often in their twenties, born long after the period they portray. Yet their content draws millions of likes from viewers who imagine life before smartphones as simpler, freer and more connected.

Tavaius Dawson, the 26-year-old behind Maximal Nostalgia, said people raised in the digital age long for a time without constant online pressure. His AI videos celebrate a version of the decade filled with bright colors, big hair and youthful energy while omitting the darker realities of the 1980s, including the AIDS crisis, widening inequality and drug epidemics.

Psychology experts say this selective memory reflects a timeless human pattern. Just as people once romanticized the 1950s or 1960s, today’s audiences idealize the ’80s through “rose-colored glasses.” Yet the realism of AI-generated footage worries some researchers, who warn that the line between history and fiction is becoming increasingly blurred.

For some, the clips evoke genuine emotion. Alicia West Fancher, who lived through the 1980s, said the videos moved her to tears and felt surprisingly true to her memories. Meanwhile, creators like Dawson hope to build on the momentum by producing live-action projects set in their polished version of the decade.

Despite concerns, the surge of AI nostalgia reveals a deeper cultural longing. In an age of isolation and digital overload, many young people find comfort in a past they never knew — one that AI tools can make vividly, if imperfectly, real.