AI Creator Turns Historical Figures Into Viral Social Media Stars

Yonatan Vichter, a 25-year-old from Sderot who works as an electric train mechanic for Siemens, has become a viral sensation by creating AI-generated videos that reimagine historical and public figures in contemporary social media contexts. His short videos, often featuring figures like Golda Meir, garner hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions, of views across social media platforms.

Vichter explained to mako that his creative process involves taking serious, well-known figures and presenting a different, lighter side of them, imagining how they might behave in different times and places. While he enjoys creating content with public figures, Vichter insists his primary motivation is humor, not politics, and he is not working for any politician. He noted that creating AI content of Benjamin Netanyahu is nearly impossible due to restrictions in available models.

He utilizes the Seedance 2.5 model on the Hugging Face platform, with creation times ranging from five minutes for simple videos to four to five hours for more complex projects requiring scriptwriting and revisions. Vichter crafts extensive text prompts, which are then refined by ChatGPT, creating a synergy between different AI tools. He described his process as dynamic, recalling an idea for a Golda Meir video that came to him in the shower and was on television by the next day.

Vichter emphasizes that AI is merely a tool, and the creativity lies in the concept and execution. He has seen rapid growth, with his new Instagram page gaining 22,000 followers in a week, in addition to a separate page with 125,000 followers. One video featuring a compilation of celebrities and politicians singing in a car has surpassed one million views.

While Vichter does not currently earn money directly from views, he is expanding into business ventures, including "Save the Date" videos for couples and collaborations with businesses and public figures. He is committed to labeling his content as AI-generated to avoid misleading viewers, though he acknowledges some people still believe the videos are real. Vichter's long-term aspiration is to write and direct films and series.