What is social media for? I would argue, perhaps naively, that social media is a tool we can use to connect with each other. The companies that run social media networks, meanwhile, mostly see social networks as a tool for capturing as much attention as possible. I can think of no better illustration of this tension than Meta’s plans for AI. As Cristina Criddle and Hannah Murphy outlined for Finanical Times, bots will soon have their own profiles and posts:
Meta is betting that characters generated by artificial intelligence will fill its social media platforms in the next few years as it looks to the fast-developing technology to drive engagement with its 3 billion users.
The Silicon Valley group is rolling out a range of AI products, including one that helps users create AI characters on Instagram and Facebook, as it battles with rival tech groups to attract and retain a younger audience.
“We expect these AIs to actually, over time, exist on our platforms, kind of in the same way that accounts do,” said Connor Hayes, vice-president of product for generative AI at Meta.
This is our near future: sites that once existed, at least in theory, to help you connect with the people in your life will now openly connect you with bots instead.
You could argue this is just removing the middlemen. It’s well documented that Meta’s platforms are already flooded with AI content—404 Media’s Jason Koebler outlined how creators from India, Vietnam, and the Philipines profit by filling Faceobok with AI chum. And Meta long ago tilted their services away from helping users connect with people toward merely taking up time—when I log into Meta’s platforms I see a little bit of content from friends followed by a bunch of influencer content, memes. Friends and family, at this point, are mostly just bait, and have been for a while.
All of that said there’s something dystopian about networks that were once social giving up on the social aspect entirely and instead transparently pushing automated slop. One of the most powerful companies in human history is actively developing what they claim is world-changing technology—and using more electricity than entire nations in the process—and this is their best idea for how to use it: making bot accounts on their own social network in an effort to get you to scroll just a little bit longer. And Silicon Valley types wonder why my generation isn’t hopeful about the tech industry.
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