How to Do the AI Trend on Instagram

The stunning, slightly surreal, and utterly captivating AI-generated content you’re seeing all over Instagram is easier to create than you think. From stylized avatars to entire video montages that look like scenes from a sci-fi film, this trend has opened up a new playground for creators. This guide breaks down exactly which tools to use and the steps to follow to create your own viral AI content for Instagram.

What is the “AI Trend” on Instagram, Anyway?

You’ve probably seen posts with captions like, “I asked AI to show me X...” followed by a series of unbelievable images or a fast-paced video. This isn’t just one single trend, but a collection of formats where creators use artificial intelligence to generate unique visuals. While the possibilities are endless, the trend generally falls into three popular categories.

1. AI Portraits and Avatars

This was one of the first big AI waves to hit Instagram. Users upload a series of their own selfies to an app, which then generates dozens of hyper-stylized portraits of them in different artistic formats - from astronauts and fantasy elves to elegant oil paintings and anime characters. You might remember the Lensa app's "Magic Avatars" taking over everyone's profile pictures. This trend is all about seeing reimagined, artistic versions of yourself.

2. Text-to-Image Art and Conceptual Worlds

Here, creativity takes center stage. Instead of feeding the AI your own photos, you give it text prompts to generate completely new images from scratch. This has led to countless viral carousels and Reels with themes like:

• "Nike ads designed by Wes Anderson"
• "Every zodiac sign as a fantasy movie villain"
• "What national parks would look like on another planet"

It’s a fantastic way for brands and creators to visualize abstract ideas, tell a story, or just share something visually stunning and completely original.

3. AI Photo and Video Animation

This is arguably the most dynamic iteration of the trend. Creators take a single photo (either of themselves or an AI-generated image) and use AI tools and a video editor to animate it, creating a dynamic, video-style Reel. The most popular version of this is the "AI Runway" trend, where a person’s photo is transformed into a video of them walking down a fashion show runway. Others use it to create dreamlike zooming effects or simple animations that bring still images to life, perfectly synced to trending audio.

Choosing Your AI Tools: The Right Apps for the Job

To jump on these trends, you'll need a combination of AI generators and video editing apps. Don't worry, many of them are easy to use. Here are the top contenders broken down by what they do best.

For Creating AI Portraits & Avatars

These apps specialize in transforming your photos into artistic creations. You typically upload 10-20 different photos of yourself for the best results.

• Lensa AI: The one that started it all. Its "Magic Avatars" feature is incredibly user-friendly. Just upload your photos, choose a few styles, and the app does the rest. It’s a paid feature, but the results are high-quality and varied.
• Remini: Initially known for enhancing old photos, Remini has a powerful AI avatar and headshot generator. It’s known for producing photorealistic and professional-looking results that are perfect for a different, less "cartoony" take on the trend.

For Generating Original AI Art (Text-to-Image)

These platforms are blank canvases. Your imagination (and your ability to write a good text prompt) is the only limit.

• Midjourney: This is the powerhouse behind much of the hyper-realistic and artistic AI imagery you see. It runs on the chat platform Discord, which has a slight learning curve, but the quality of its output is unmatched. You start by typing /imagine and then write a detailed description of the image you want. Perfect for creators who want maximum control and professional-grade results.
• DALL-E 3 (via ChatGPT Plus or Microsoft Designer): The most accessible and user-friendly option for beginners. If you have ChatGPT Plus, you can simply talk to it like you would a person. For example, "Create a photorealistic image of a vintage coffee shop in Tokyo during a rainy night." It’s highly intuitive and great for experimenting with ideas.
• Microsoft Designer (Image Creator): This is a free way to access DALL-E 3. It's incredibly simple - just type your prompt into a text box and get your images. The quality is excellent and a perfect starting point if you're not ready to subscribe to a service.

For Turning Images into Videos

Once you have your source images (whether they are AI selfies or original art), you need to assemble them into a compelling video. That’s where these tools come in.

• CapCut: This is the secret ingredient for almost every viral video trend on Instagram and TikTok. It's a free, powerful video editor that makes it incredibly easy to stitch photos together. More importantly, it features thousands of "Templates" that let you drop your images into a pre-made, professionally edited video complete with effects and audio syncing.
• RunwayML: A more advanced, web-based tool with some mind-blowing AI video features. Its Gen-2 feature can take a static image (or just a text prompt) and generate a full 4-second video clip from it. This is how many of the AI animation trends get their start.
• Kaiber AI: Similar to Runway, Kaiber specializes in transforming your images or videos into stunning music-video-style animations. You upload an initial image, choose a style, and watch it morph and transition to the beat of an uploaded song.

Step-by-Step Tutorial: Creating a Viral AI Reel

Let's walk through an example. We'll create a Reel using the popular "expand your world" photo trend, where an AI tool 'fills in' the background of a simple image.

Step 1: Get Your Main Image

Start with a high-quality photo. For this example, let’s use a simple photo of a person standing in a park. You can use a real photo or one generated by Midjourney or DALL-E 3 for a more fantasy-like result.

Step 2: Generate the "Expanded" AI Versions

You can use an AI tool with an "outpainting" or "generative fill" feature. Adobe Photoshop’s Generative Fill is perfect for this. Or, you can upload your image to an online tool like RunwayML.

1. Upload your original image.
2. Select the "Expand Image" or a similar tool.
3. Let the AI generate the expanded scene. It will create a much larger canvas, filling in the background with surprising and imaginative details.
4. Export a few different versions or one long, zoomed-out image sequence. This will give you the frames for your video.

Step 3: Find Trending Audio on Instagram

Audio is half the battle. Before you start editing, scroll through Reels to find a trending song that fits the mood of your video. Look for audio that has a little upward arrow icon next to its name, indicating it's popular right now. When you find one you like, tap the audio and either "Save Audio" or select "Use Audio" to open the Reels camera.

Step 4: Put It All Together in CapCut

This is where the magic happens. Open the CapCut app.

1. Start a new project and import your original photo and the expanded AI versions.
2. Put the clips in order on the timeline, starting with the original and moving to the expanded one. Use the "Keyframe" tool to create a slow, steady zoom-out effect that reveals the amazing AI-generated world.
3. If you’re short on time, search CapCut's templates for "AI photo expand" or "zoom effect" to find a pre-made project. Simply replace the placeholder clips with your images.
4. Export the video in high resolution (1080p).

Step 5: Upload and Post to Instagram

Finally, open Instagram and upload the video you just exported from CapCut. Since you already picked your audio, your video will be automatically synced.

Now, write a great caption. Tell a little story, like "I wondered what was beyond the park... and AI showed me." Add a strong call-to-action, such as "What should I have AI create next? Tell me in the comments!"

Finally, add relevant hashtags: #AITrend #AIArt #GenerativeFill #InstagramTrend #ViralReel #BeforeAndAfter. Then post it and share it to your Story!

Tips for Making Your AI Content Stand Out

Simply making an AI image isn't enough. Here’s how to give your content the best chance of being seen.

• Tell a Story. People connect with narratives. Use a carousel format to show your text prompt in the first slide and the AI result in the following slides. For Reels, the "before and after" is a powerful and very simple story format that always works.
• Connect to a Niche. The most successful AI posts are relevant to a specific community. If you have a brand dedicated to vintage cars, create a series on "Legendary Cars If They Were Designed in the Future." A book-focused account could generate "AI Portraits of Famous Literary Characters." Generic posts get lost, niche posts get shared.
• Show the Human Element. Trends often perform best when they connect back to a real person. That's why the avatar and fashion show trends did so well - they start with a real person and use AI to augment them. Don’t be afraid to put yourself in the trend.
• Use the Right Format and Audio. Packaging is everything. A single, amazing AI image might get a few hundred likes. That same image, put into a 7-second Reel with trending audio and a simple text overlay hook like "You won’t believe what AI did with my photo..." can get millions of views. Always adapt your creations to the format that the Instagram algorithm is favoring, which right now is Reels.

Final Thoughts

Mastering the AI trend on Instagram opens a huge new avenue for your content creation, allowing you to produce eye-catching, unique visuals that fascinate audiences. It comes down to picking the right tools, experimenting with creative ideas, and packaging the final result in a shareable format like a Reel with trending music.

Of course, creating is only half the process, you still have to publish your art at the right times for the right audiences. At Postbase, we built our visual calendar specifically for content like this, helping you plan and schedule your AI-powered Reels and carousels across all your platforms without the guesswork. Since our platform was designed with today's content formats - like short-form video - at its core, you can drag and drop your AI creations into your schedule, track what’s performing best with our analytics, and spend your time focused on your next great piece, not fighting with outdated software.