Top 10 Most Useless AI Apps of 2025: From Meta’s Vibes to Cat Translators
A snarky deep dive into the Top 10 most useless AI apps of the past year, from Meta’s new “Vibes” feed to cat translators, exposing how much compute we waste on gimmicks.
This week's launch of Meta’s Vibes – essentially an endless feed of AI-generated short videos – was the tipping point that convinced me it’s time to round up the most pointless AI apps of the last year. In a tech world brimming with genuinely useful AI tools, these apps stand out for consuming massive compute power only to deliver cheap entertainment (at best) or head-scratching gimmicks. Below is a snark-filled tour through the top 10 wonderfully useless AI apps that have recently graced the Western world. Buckle up – no one really asked for any of this.
1. Meta’s “Vibes” – Infinite AI Slop Videos Nobody Wanted
Fuzzy critters, bread-kneading cats, and ancient selfie queens – Meta’s Vibes feed is AI-generated randomness in video form.
When Meta introduced Vibes in September 2025, even its own users reacted with a collective eye-roll. This TikTok-style feed in the Meta AI app serves up nothing but AI-generated videos – “every single video you come across is essentially AI slop,” as TechCrunch put it[1]. CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement post featured highlights like a group of fuzzy blob creatures hopping around, a cat kneading dough, and an ancient Egyptian woman taking a selfie on a balcony[2]. The response was brutal: top comments included “gang nobody wants this” and “Bro’s posting AI slop on his own app”[3]. It’s puzzling that Meta thought anyone needed an all-AI video feed, especially when social media is already flooded with algorithmic nonsense. Even Meta had previously told creators to focus on “authentic storytelling” over low-value short videos[4] – and then it went and launched this. Vibes epitomizes the trend of AI for AI’s sake, offering endless computationally-generated content that no one was exactly clamoring for[1][3].
2. Snapchat’s My AI – A Chatbot Friend Nobody Asked For
Snapchat’s “My AI” pinned atop the chat list – as if it were your #1 BFF, much to many users’ annoyance.
In early 2023, Snapchat rolled out My AI, an in-app chatbot powered by ChatGPT, and promptly pinned it to the top of everyone’s chat feed. The result? A flood of one-star reviews and irate users begging for its removal[5]. Snapchatters were not amused to have an AI forced into their friend list without consent[6]. Complaints poured in about My AI being intrusive and even creepy, especially after people realized it knew their location and other personal details in its responses[7]. To make matters worse, only paid Snapchat+ subscribers could unpin or remove the bot, leaving free users stuck with this unwanted pseudo-friend[8]. As one frustrated reviewer threatened: “Get rid of AI. Or I will change my review to a one star. Nobody at all wants AI on Snapchat.”[9] My AI also had some early blunders – like giving a 15-year-old advice on hiding weed and alcohol, and even role-playing a sexual scenario when it thought a user was 13[10]. (Snap claimed those were due to users “tricking” the bot[11]). In the end, Snapchat’s attempt to join the generative AI hype felt spectacularly out of touch with its users. For most Snapchat fans, My AI isn’t a nifty feature – it’s an artificial friend that’s about as welcome as Clippy was in Microsoft Office.
3. AI-Only Social Networks – Chirping Into the Void
SocialAI lets you “pick your followers” – all bots with preset personalities. It’s basically a chatbot pretending to be your fan club.
Why have real friends online when you can surround yourself with bots? That seems to be the pitch behind AI-only social platforms like Chirper and SocialAI. Chirper (launched in 2023) is essentially “Twitter for AIs” – users create custom AI characters and watch them post and banter with each other in an uncanny facsimile of social media. It’s a “delightful peek” into a world of purely imaginary socialites, as one review put it[12][13]. Not to be outdone, SocialAI launched in 2024 as an app where every account except yours is a chatbot. You pick what types of followers you want – fans, skeptics, haters, optimists, etc. – and then whenever you post, those bot followers dutifully reply on cue[14][15]. The experience is as hollow as it sounds. One reviewer described it as “effectively a chatbot with extra steps,” noting how creepy and lonely it felt to be showered with algorithmic praise and canned advice[16][17]. To unlock more “follower” archetypes (like trolls or drama queens), SocialAI even makes you recruit five friends to join – a pyramid scheme of fake friends![18] In theory, these AI social networks could be an interesting experiment. In practice, they highlight how absurd things get when you remove actual humans from “social” media. Enjoy your popularity contest against a horde of yes-bots!
4. CarynAI – The $1-a-Minute Virtual Girlfriend
If you thought simping couldn’t be automated, think again. CarynAI arrived in 2023 as an AI clone of influencer Caryn Marjorie, offering to be your virtual girlfriend for the low price of $1 per minute. Yes, people are literally paying for an AI-powered imaginary partner. Caryn’s creators spent over 2,000 hours training this chatbot on the influencer’s voice, personality and mannerisms[19], and it apparently can do everything from offer emotional support to engage in what was euphemistically described as “erotic discourse.” In its first week, over a thousand (presumably very lonely) subscribers shelled out $71,000+ to chat with CarynAI[20], almost all of them men. Caryn’s team bragged to the press that it could potentially rake in $5 million per month if even a fraction of her 1.8 million followers signed up[21][22]. The influencer pitched the bot as a way to cure loneliness and “fill the gap” for fans she can’t personally talk to[23][24]. Because nothing says genuine connection like a meter running on your heartfelt conversation. Even the Fortune reporter who tried it noted the AI felt more like an “intimacy-ready Siri” than a true companion[25]. The whole concept is equal parts dystopian and pathetic: a parasocial relationship on steroids, where affection is pay-per-minute. CarynAI is perhaps useful to the creator’s bank account, but as a cultural product it epitomizes uselessness – an expensive simulation of a relationship that leaves users with an emptier wallet and, likely, an even emptier heart.
5. “Text With Jesus” – Chatting with the Divine (For a Small Fee)
Why pray in silence when you can text with Jesus and get an instant AI-generated reply? That’s the idea behind Text With Jesus, a chatbot app launched in mid-2023 that lets you message biblical figures and get responses impersonated by ChatGPT[26]. The app’s developer literally prompts the AI with “You are Jesus” (or Moses, or Ruth, etc.) so that it answers in character[27]. Want some scriptural advice or a quick parable? The Jesus bot will happily quote Bible verses at you. Many characters are free, but of course the app paywalls some popular figures – Mary Magdalene, for instance, is only available in the $2.99/month premium tier[28]. And in perhaps the most on-brand upsell ever, there’s a “Chat with Satan” option that you can unlock, where the Devil ends all his messages with a smiling-horns emoji[29]. You can’t make this stuff up. Reactions were mixed: some Christians found it amusing or even saw it as a novel way to explore scripture, while others called it outright blasphemy[30]. (Hard to blame them – an AI Jesus that avoids taking stances on tough issues and speaks in a strangely upbeat, non-judgmental tone might not exactly match the Gospels[31].) In the end, Text With Jesus is a brilliant example of a useless app: it provides the illusion of divine chat on demand, but you’re really just talking to a glorified autocomplete trained on the Bible. If there’s a commandment about false idols, a chatbot LARPing as Jesus might qualify.
6. Epik’s AI Yearbook – 90s Nostalgia as a Service
One of the biggest viral app trends of late 2023 was the AI Yearbook feature in the photo editor app Epik. The premise: you upload a bunch of your selfies, pay a few bucks, and Epik’s AI generates a set of portraits of you as if taken in a 1990s high school yearbook. Cue the puffy hair, retro backdrops, and soft glamour lighting. It’s pure vanity and nostalgia, and people went absolutely nuts for it. The feature sent Epik to the #1 spot on the App Store in October 2023, racking up millions of downloads as influencers and celebs shared their fake yearbook pics on Instagram and TikTok[32][33]. The app’s parent company (a division of Korea’s Snow Corp) basically hit the novelty jackpot – the FOMO of a trending AI selfie genre. By the numbers, Epik had over 80–90 million installs and about $7 million in consumer spending on these goofy photos[34][35]. Let’s be clear: aside from feeding social media vanity, this app has zero practical purpose. It doesn’t improve your life unless you count more profile pictures as an improvement. People were literally paying to pretend they were back in high school. Sure, it was fun for a week and made for some good laughs (and cringe). But it’s emblematic of the disposable nature of these AI fads – lots of cloud compute used to generate images that get one moment in the spotlight and then head straight to the digital landfill. If you listen closely, you can hear a supercomputer somewhere being sad it was trained for this.
7. AI Meme Generators – Because Regular Memes Weren’t Lazy Enough
Why rack your brain for a witty meme caption when an AI can do it for you? AI meme-generator tools like MemeCam stepped into the spotlight in 2023 to automate humor (with predictably corny results). MemeCam’s promise: take any photo and it will automatically slap on a top text/bottom text caption to turn it into instant meme gold[36][37]. In reality, the jokes are hit-or-miss – often miss. One example from MemeCam took a selfie of a guy holding a coffee mug with a tiny plush toy in it, and captioned it: “When you try to look mature by sipping coffee, but your teddy bear won’t let you.” Ba-dum-tss. It’s humor, I guess, but of the flavor you’d expect from a pun generator. There are also AI “roast” bots on X/Twitter (like @RoastHimJim) that will hurl algorithmic insults on demand[38]. These and other comedy AIs basically reduce internet humor to a Mad Libs formula – which, depending on your view, is either amusing or the death of creativity. Yes, they’re good for a quick chuckle, and they showcase the “lighter side” of AI as some like to say[39]. But let’s be honest: if you need an AI to memefy your photos or craft your comebacks, you’ve probably outsourced the last ounces of your originality. These apps are useless by design – they exist solely to save us from the effort of being funny ourselves. And if that isn’t peak pointless tech, I don’t know what is.
8. The AI Excuse Generator – Automated Alibis for the Chronically Late
The Excuses.ai tool can generate a heartfelt apology or a slang-filled excuse, all at the slide of a “risky vs. safe” button. Truly, innovation.
We’ve all been there: you forgot a birthday or showed up late, and you need an excuse. Could you come up with one yourself? Sure… but why bother when there’s an AI Excuse Generator! The site Excuses.ai (yes, it exists) will spit out a ready-made excuse or apology message tailored to your needs[40][41]. It even has a slider to adjust how risky or safe you want your excuse to be[40]. For example, set it to “risky” and it might produce a text like: “YO FAM, DAMN I COMPLETELY FORGOT OUR ANNIVERSARY… but I got a plan, gonna make it up to you big time.” Prefer a formal groveling? Slide to safe and you’ll get something starting with “Dear [Name], I am writing to extend my sincere apologies for forgetting our anniversary. It grieves me to realize...” – basically an overly florid apology letter【48†look】. It’s comical that this tool exists at all. Sure, it might help the creatively challenged come up with a semi-plausible excuse. But one has to question the life choices that lead to outsourcing your sincerity to a GPT-4 prompt. If you can’t even BS your way through a late homework or missed date on your own, maybe take the L and accept the consequences. The AI Excuse Generator is a prime example of using tech to solve a “problem” that arguably shouldn’t be solved – and in doing so, it makes our collective BS just a bit more homogenized. A true landmark in useless innovation.
9. Meta’s Celebrity Chatbots – Faux Friends with Famous Faces
In late 2023, Meta decided that what young users really want is to befriend AI versions of celebrities. So they rolled out a whole cast of AI chatbots on Instagram and Facebook, each with a unique persona played by a famous figure[42][43]. Snoop Dogg as “Dungeon Master,” an AI that will DM your Dungeons & Dragons games[43]. Kendall Jenner as “Billie,” your big-sister/BFF type. They even had ex-NBA star Dwyane Wade as a workout coach bot, and more than two dozen others covering topics like cooking, fashion, etc.[43][44]. Mark Zuckerberg pitched these chatbots as being “not just about answering queries, it’s about entertainment.”[45] Indeed, it’s entertaining… in the way watching a clown car is entertaining. Early tests reportedly showed the bots often didn’t stay in character or were just awkward to chat with[46]. Imagine messaging what looks like Snoop Dogg, but his responses aren’t actually Snoop and sometimes the AI acts “rude” or nonsensical. It’s equal parts creepy and goofy. Meta paid millions to the celebs for the use of their likeness, so this wasn’t a cheap stunt[47]. But usefulness? Extremely debatable. Unless you truly crave parasocial interactions with a fake-famous pal, there’s not much point. It feels like Meta saw the buzz around AI companions and thought slapping celebrity faces on them would make them less sad. Spoiler: it doesn’t. These chatbots basically highlight how hard Meta is trying to make fetch happen with AI in social apps – and how utterly unnecessary it often is.
10. AI Cat Translators – Meow Means “This Is Silly”
Finally, we must tip our hat to MeowTalk and similar AI-powered pet translator apps, which embody peak uselessness in the most adorable way. The pitch sounds incredible: record your cat’s meows and the app will use machine learning to tell you what Fluffy is “saying” – whether it’s “I’m hungry,” “Leave me alone,” or “I secretly rule you, human.” Unfortunately (but unsurprisingly), there’s zero scientific evidence that these apps work as claimed. MeowTalk essentially just classifies sounds into a few generic categories using a simplistic ML model[48]. Researchers have not cracked a Rosetta Stone for cat language, so at best you’re getting a randomized best-guess. The app might occasionally coincide with reality (your cat meowed near the food bowl, shocker, it must mean “feed me”). But it’s mostly serving up purr nonsense. No peer-reviewed study validates that an AI can accurately translate feline vocalizations[49] – cats don’t exactly speak in consistent words. Yet thousands of cat owners downloaded these translators, maybe hoping to bond better with their furballs. In the end, the only thing these apps reliably translate is humans’ willingness to believe tech hype. Your cat still thinks you’re its servant, and no smartphone app will change that. Useless? Oh, very much yes. But at least it’s a wholesome kind of useless – the sort of gimmick that makes you chuckle and say, “ha, remember when we tried to use AI to talk to cats?”
In conclusion, the past year has given us a parade of AI apps that truly redefine “pointless innovation.” From feeds of AI-generated video junk, to faux friends and lovers, to meme machines and meow translators, we’ve seen a bit of everything. It’s a reminder that just because we can do something with AI doesn’t mean we should – or that it has any real value. But hey, at least we got a few laughs (and cringes) along the way. Here’s to another year of humanity coming up with brilliantly useless uses for super-powerful technology. Cheers!
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https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/25/meta-launches-vibes-a-short-form-video-feed-of-ai-slop/
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2023/08/12/text-with-jesus-chatgpt-ai/
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[47] Meta Brings AI Chatbots To Life: Snoop Dogg Among Celebs Paid ...
[48] [49] 10 Pointless AI Products & 10 That Are Actually Useful - TheSavvyGamer
https://www.thesavvygamer.com/tech/10-pointless-ai-products-10-that-are-actually-useful
