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Keep in mind the March 3rd, 2023 date.
It might be just another Friday on the calendar, but it’s actually the day a well-known social media company announced their own demise. It’s also the beginning of the end for all social media.
That’s right, March 3 is when LinkedIn announced a new “collaborative article” concept, which (if you follow AI trends and know how these things usually pan out) seems harmless enough at first. Prior to this, it was — a voicebot will always be available in your home or a robotic car will drive you to work. In the announcement, LinkedIn mentioned this innocuous phrase: “These articles begin as AI-powered conversation starters, developed with our editorial team.”
What’s really happening here? My guess is that LinkedIn is using AI to scan their own platform (what they claim is “10 billion years of professional experience”) to generate AI-created content. As humans, we’ll respond to these posts because they will be tailor-made to encourage a response and debate. We don’t know how these posts will get labeled. What’s clear is that there will be a plethora of AI-enabled content meant to encourage more engagement.
This semi-automated social network was described in a report. A darker perspective is my preference. Recently, I wrote about an AI chatbot posting to Twitter. Commenters often get confused as to whether it is powered by real humans or artificial intelligence. It’s a curious development. I’m in favor of AI helping us do our work. I’m not in favor of people thinking content created by a human is actually something cooked up by an AI, mostly because it means the entire experience will degrade, one post at a time. I’ve already experienced way more LinkedIn spam messaging of late, to the point where I now barely read any direct messages at all. AI spam is the last thing that I need.
This begs the question of where it all leads. Once AI starts controlling the algorithm and posting content to lure us into more discussions, it’s just a matter of time before more and more accounts that Click hereThese networks are being invaded by an AI-generated human face, and they also have a fake place. It is causing a complete disruption to our experience.
Think about how that might turn out.
You might log onto Facebook or LinkedIn and scroll through your news feed on a normal day. It’s easy to see a lot of lively discussions and comments. But it’s all a ruse. The social media platform has allowed and even enabled the AI accounts to create the discussions (and the comments), and they are geared for you — your interests and proclivities. Because social media networks have a good idea of your interests and habits, the chats will be appealing.
Instagram and TikTok have bots that can recognize which photos or videos you enjoy the most. However, without human interaction, this will only be an attempt to get your attention and to keep you on the app longer. It will also show ads tailored to your interests. Not to make it all sound too dire, but think of The Matrix and the moment Neo realized he was (spoiler alert for the five people who don’t know this) nothing more than a battery in a tube.
It will be almost like The Matrix when we all surround ourselves with AI bots that act as humans. They can look at content not created by humans but also see ads generated by algorithms. It will all seem fake. One of them will then have some value.
We owe Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg an apology. This could be the moment when we finally let go of social media and realize that it is all there to trap us into their ads. We should wake up and prevent that nightmare from happening.
