I always think it's really important to start from a place of the internet and people using the internet have kind of always been the same, even though the technology changes and most importantly the scale changes.

And I feel like keeping that in mind is a great way to orient yourself for the new horrors.

In a world where AI creations are taking over social media, we're seeing more and more bafflingly bizarre content overwhelm apps like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram,

including videos that have come to be known as Cute Cat AI.

Those of you who are familiar with our episodes on Elsagate and The Disturbing World of

Mobile Game Ads might know where this is going.

These seemingly innocent, weirdly repetitive, uncanny, humanoid cat videos, which appear to be

marketed toward kids, includes surprise, violence and go gore, graphic gross-out scenes, strange sexual

themes, and just the weirdest stuff you can imagine. For this collaboration, internet rabbit

hole correspondence Ryan Broderick and Grant Irving of the podcast Panic World are back

for another horrifying exploration of cute cat AI, as well as another classic story of online

cat content taking a turn for the worse, the early internet's bonsai kittens hoax.

My warning to you, dear listeners, is that like our ElsaGate and mobile game ads episodes,

this is going to be one that may be hard to stomach for people less deranged than me and the boys. But rest assured, any real cats

in this episode are curled up somewhere safe in a sunbeam. As for what this twisted online world

we are here to reveal may do to your mental state, well, I can't promise

that you won't end up wanting to scratch my eyes out. I'm your host, Chelsea Weber-Smith,

and this is American Hysteria. Okay, so what is your favorite cat-related content on the Internet?

Like, what's your favorite video posts, meme, whatever?

Okay.

Do you all remember, this was probably like three years ago, maybe a little less,

and there was just this really quick video of a cat coming around the side of a fridge, and it

...