It makes natural that the first significant social network to force AI-generated material on its members would be LinkedIn. The Microsoft-owned business is strange. It is a corporation. It’s jam-packed with workfluencer postings and engagement snares that range in tone from delightfully crazy to dull management consultant. Fortunately, AI often operates in this emotional range.
Although LinkedIn hasn’t yet included AI chatbots in its newsfeed, it started distributing “AI-powered conversation starters” last week with the explicit intention of igniting user debate. With the assistance of LinkedIn’s editorial staff, these pieces are “crafted” and paired with real experts who can share their perspectives on subjects like “how to generate a consistent brand voice on social media” and “how to measure the online reach of your work.” Yet, this effort marks a significant milestone and might signal the beginning of a larger web revolution.
It’s the first time that I’m aware that a significant social media network has offered people directly created AI material to keep them interested. Yet in a time when social media is stagnating, with Twitter’s numerous challenges and Meta’s desperate-looking appeal for paid memberships, it might signpost to the future of the sector: the semiautomated social network.
It’s the first time that I’m aware that a significant social media network has offered people directly created AI material to keep them interested. Yet in a time when social media is stagnating, with Twitter’s numerous challenges and Meta’s desperate-looking appeal for paid memberships, it might signpost to the future of the sector: the semiautomated social network.
Of course, since the development of the algorithmic feed, social media has been utilizing AI to direct users’ attention. As soon as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other platforms started employing obscure analytics to rank user content, they transformed into human-machine hybrids that shaped our behavior to keep us interested and stimulated. Yet, there are differences between this type of engagement and actively disseminating AI-generated material, not the least of which is that businesses now can do so in a way that was just not feasible even a few years ago. The most overrated trend of 2023 may be “generative AI,” but there’s a reason behind it.
We now have AI tools that can create countless streams of text, audio, video, and images, and social media platforms have all the user data these tools require to train them. Why not connect the two?
It’s simple to picture how a mostly automated social network may work. You may develop phony users in the form of AI chatbots in addition to providing consumers with AI-generated material to nudge, encourage, and pander to your user base.
Maybe you start by using chatbots just to block troublesome people, a strategy known as heaven-banning. In this approach, trolls can only communicate with chatbots that appease them by agreeing with what they say. The decision to allow more bots to connect to the general public may be made, however, when your monthly user numbers start to decline and the quarterly revenues aren’t looking so good either. In your news release, you state, “It’s a proven approach to improve user engagement. “We’re providing great individualized information at scale, which is what the public wants. With our Artificial playpen, you’ll never get bored.
Hey, it may even be well-liked. There is no reason to believe that users of a social network with bots would not find it enjoyable. Many of us already use social media like a game to establish alliances, battle rivals, and gain points in our preferred measure. It can be comforting to know that the bot-backed attack you started is merely directed at a different computer program, whose live-streamed malfunction is, you convince yourself, entirely artificial intelligence (AI) created. And why bother making online pals with real people when chatbots offer more forbearance and less conflict? Is it important if your pals are robots if virtual connections are similar to real-world ones? Also, if I enroll in the BotFriend+ package, I even receive sporadic Amazon goodies in the mail.
Any automation will likely be more nuanced than this; this is only one potential future. Nevertheless, when these changes happen, social media as it was initially intended—as a platform for exchanging news and ideas with actual people—will come to an end, and a new genre of online entertainment will begin.
It may be argued that this transformation has already begun. The creation of chatbots based on fictitious characters on websites like Character is one of the most well-liked applications of consumer AI. NovelAI and AI. Another sort of fandom is when users spend hours perfecting AI representations of their favorite video game or superhero characters and then just… talk with them for hours at a time. It’s also indisputable that these methods can keep people interested.
