Sellers on Shopee and TikTok call out auto-generated AI ads that mislead customers

SINGAPORE, 25 AUGUST 2026 —

In one AI-generated video on Shopee, a book by a Singapore author, which deals with themes such as emotional and verbal abuse, was described as a "fun" story. SINGAPORE: When Singaporean author Xie Shi Min stumbled across her own novel, Ghost Hunters of Geylang, on Shopee in March, she was startled to find an artificial intelligence video peddling a bizarre version of it. Her protagonist's symbolic sword on the cover had been warped into a pole. An AI avatar marketing the novel claimed she could "smell durian" from the pages. Worse still, a young adult story grappling with generational trauma and abuse was repackaged as a "fun" and "wholesome adventure" for children. "The effort that my cover designer used to create the unique cover art that makes it stand out in a bookstore and to have to see it perverted like that (is heartbreaking)," the award-winning author told CNA on Friday (Aug 21) of her disbelief when she first saw the unsolicited ad. "To have it be put through AI is just plain insulting." CNA Games Guess Word Crack the word, one row at a time Buzzword Create words using the given letters Mini Sudoku Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser Mini Crossword Small grid, big challenge Word Search Spot as many words as you can Show More Show Less Ms Xie is among a growing number of creators and sellers frustrated by a lack of control over AI-generated videos marketing their products on Shopee and TikTok since late last year. Shopee introduced the video feature in late 2025 to provide shoppers with additional information about products to help them make more informed purchasing decisions. TikTok Shop recently updated its video maker tool, allowing creators to automatically generate AI videos with embedded product links. But those who spoke to CNA say the videos misrepresent what they sell. In Ms Xie's case, the oddities in the video likely arose from AI hallucinations. Durians were mentioned in just one line in the book and are not related to the main plot, Ms Xie said. More troubling for her was how the video portrayed her young adult book with horror elements as a "fun" one, which she said was "detrimental" to her audience. "So for Shopee to present it as a children's book adventure, like 'oh Geylang is our playground, we play there and we fight ghosts', it's just wrong." Ms Xie immediately alerted her publisher Epigram Books to the video, which reported it to Shopee. The publisher also suggested that she file a report to the platform. Speaking to CNA, Epigram Books' online sales and marketing manager Chloe Chee said about five to six authors had reached out with similar concerns and the independent publisher likewise advised them to report the products. The company has reported about 10 affected listings since March, though Ms Chee said she was not sure if the videos have been taken down. She added that she contacted Shopee several times through messages and by highlighting the issue on its seller platform, but could not tell if she was interacting with an actual person or a chatbot. "On our side, on the back end, there are (some) features to turn off AI-generated images, but not videos," she said. Even when the feature is turned off, the changes are not reflected immediately on the platform. "I'm not sure if it actually solves the issue. But it seems like it still hasn't; the videos are still there," said Ms Chee. When Ms Xie checked the listing for her book again on Aug 20, she noticed a different AI-generated video this time. "It's like a Hydra, you kill one video and then another comes up," she said, referring to the snake-like monster with many heads in ancient Greek mythology. Ms Koh Wan Yi, the sole proprietor of Helumi, a design studio selling paper products such as planners and journals, encountered similar AI-generated videos first on TikTok and later on Shopee. In the second half of last year, she saw that affiliate creators on TikTok - who earn commissions from promoting products on the platform - had posted videos of AI-generated people showcasing her products. "It may not even be in English. It could be in Spanish. I've gotten that as well. I'm not sure why, (the business) is only on TikTok Shop Singapore, but somehow the videos are in different languages," said Ms Koh, 33. The products shown in the videos were also not accurate. "One of the videos I saw last year was my yearly calendar being shown, and the size of the calendar compared to the person holding it was completely wrong - it was huge," Ms Koh said. In others, the stickers that Helumi sell on TikTok were oversized or shown in the wrong colours. "That's why I was quite concerned because if a customer sees it, they might get the wrong idea about the product, and when they get it, they'll be like 'oh, the calendar is smaller than I thought'." Ms Koh asked the account manager for her TikTok Shop if she could block the specific affiliate creators but was told she could not. Instead, she was recommended to turn off an "open collaboration" option that permits creators to share and promote her products. At that point, Ms Koh did not do so and chose to contact the creators herself to see if they would take the videos down. "Some of them did do it. Some of them were very nasty about it … to them, they have the right to create whatever video they want because it's going on their profile but of course it links to my product," she said. While she left it at that then, she recently decided to turn off the option as she prepared for the launch of her new collection. "(This) is quite a pity, because there are some affiliate creators that I enjoy working with, or they are genuine users of the products. But now, it's not so easy… (AI-assisted rewrite, based on the original source)

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