A teenager with a retro hairstyle beams at the camera as Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” plays — but the scene is not real. It’s part of an entirely AI-generated montage that has amassed more than 600,000 likes on Instagram, fueling a growing trend known as “AI nostalgia.”

The viral clip comes from Maximal Nostalgia, an Instagram account that crafts dreamy, idealised visions of the 1980s and 1990s using cutting-edge generative AI tools such as OpenAI’s Sora, Google’s Veo and Luma AI’s Ray. The results are so realistic that many viewers initially mistake them for genuine vintage footage.

Across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, similar channels portray a pre-smartphone world where teenagers spend their time outdoors, connecting face-to-face rather than through screens. The creator behind Maximal Nostalgia, 26-year-old Tavaius Dawson, wasn’t alive in the 1980s but understands its emotional pull.

“People who were born in an era of smartphones and social media kind of wish they`d lived in a time when they didn’t have to worry about this stuff,” Dawson told AFP.

Experts say the trend relies on a romanticised view of the past. AI-generated scenes gloss over the era’s darker realities — rising inequality, the AIDS crisis, crack cocaine addiction — instead spotlighting neon colours, big hair and suburban calm straight out of feel-good films.

Psychology professor Anna Behler of North Carolina State University explained that such selective memory is part of collective nostalgia: “You have people look at the 1950s or 1960s through rose-colored glasses… now we’re seeing the same thing with the ’80s.”

Some anachronisms give away the artificial nature — like bike lanes in 1980s New York — but the overall quality is convincing enough to raise concerns. Behler warned that hyper-realistic AI videos could “blur the line” between real historical footage and fantasy.

Still, many viewers find comfort in the retro illusions. Alicia West Fancher, who lived through the 1980s, said the AI clips left her emotional: “I teared up… It’s definitely not a fantasized version; that’s how it was.”

For creators like Dawson and Simon Parmeggiani of the Neptunian Glitter Ball channel, nostalgia has emotional weight. “Nostalgia isn`t a gimmick; it`s emotional survival,” Parmeggiani said.

Dawson now hopes to shift from AI to live-action videos that capture his idealised 1980s and 1990s. “One thing we’re certain of is that nostalgia doesn’t fade,” he said.