Is social media dying because of AI? That's the big question. In 2023, a new form of AI called the generative AI large language models flooded the world. I am to explore this question in this blog.
Many many tools to create content instantly without thinking came out on the market. Some of them free of charge. This makes every single person possible to write large amount of content both for social media and for blogs and for other types of consumption.
Question 1: So I got to ask myself the question. Is social media going to be dying because of AI?
Question 2: Will people start to switch off from social media because they'll know that every part of it is created by AI tools and it's artificial?
Question 3: How can you tell what is AI generated and what is not?
Let's explore these three questions further and see if we can find some answers.
Question 1: Is social media going to be dying because of AI?
I think that's very much a possibility because people starting to see that artificial intelligence can create a articles and social media posts a lot better than a human. So you can pretty much have everything done for you by AI and I wouldn't be surprised one day if AI is able to do all the posts for you without you needing to do anything social media related. If that becomes the possibility in the near future, do we really need social media after all if everything is fake?
The other alternative that may happen is that social media platform may label AI generated content both text and image so that people can tell what is from real humans and what is not. That is not always foolproof because some content can be generated by AI and be run through a number of AI tools to make it look like human made.
Time will tell which possibility will it happen. But it's a very real possibility that social media and the way it is at the moment may end. Or it may just simply become a place for famous people of different kinds to pump out their content for the fans and that's it. Your local artists or your local Joe Bloe Will be invisible and will not get a chance in algorithms to be seen or their work appreciated.
Question 2: Will people start to switch off from social media because they'll know that every part of it is created by AI tools and it's artificial?
That is a psychological question that I cannot predict, but it may take some time for people to wake up that they are reading AI content all the time. Already the generation Z and generation A I starting to go back to old school paper and all technology that simplifies life. They are getting sick of AI and so forth.
Is many science fiction movies? There is a separation between highly technological people and people that want to run away or leave technology or reduce technology in their lives and this may become more prevalent and visible in the coming years with an overcharge of technology in our lives.
Not to mention the existential threat of the earth being annihilated through a pollution and climate changes and cataclysms of all kinds.
Question 3: How can you tell what is AI generated and what is not?
It's really hard to do that at the moment. There are manual tools to do that. For example, you can use a tool to detect if someone used chatGPT in schools.
And there are AI tools to detect AI imagery.
More AI detection tools will come in the coming years.
And I reckon I wouldn't be surprised if social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, X and others will enact auto labelling of AI content and labelling of human made content.
It remains to be seen if that will happen.
But in all of this humans will start to ask themselves the question do I really need to waste my time on social media that is AI generated? Is anyone on the other end even watching it?
Conclusion
It's an interesting thought that may keep growing in the future as AI proliferates into more parts of our lives. Social media won't be as necessary and you'll just have an AI assistant with you without a social media platform.
Perhaps we will venture out into the world with an AI assistant beside us like a buddy like a mate like a companion and talk to real humans and discover the world. And then perhaps later on we'll just leave that AI beside our bedside table and go out and just be humans after all. 😁
Live long and prosper
Michael
