Love it, hate it, or don’t know much about it, AI is here to stay. While it’s already infiltrated many aspects of our everyday lives, it’s set to make an even bigger splash in social media. There are several ways AI will change the future of online networking, including the following:
The Emergence of AI Characters Posing as Humans
Meta’s plan to integrate AI characters on social media platforms that behave like humans seems like a science fiction movie to many people. But bots interacting with your content is nothing new; it’s been happening for years. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, either.
AI characters can “like” content, providing the validation and dopamine hit many social media users crave. While it might occur to some people that their sudden surge in “likes” is driven by AI rather than humans, most won’t give it a second thought (or be able to tell). An interested audience reigns supreme in social media, even if it’s just the perception of one.
Deepfakes
It used to be that you shouldn’t believe something unless you saw it with your own eyes; thanks to deepfakes, that’s no longer the case. As AI becomes more prominent on social media, deepfakes will skyrocket, making it harder for people to tell the truth from fiction.
The good news is safeguards are in place (such as fact-checking elements). People with a keen eye can also often detect AI-generated images and videos, which look subtly different from authentic media.
A Double-Edged Sword
When it comes to creative expression, AI can be both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it opens up a world of artistry, giving people access to AI-made logos, AI-composed text, and AI-produced photos.
However, the downside is that AI takes away from the innate artist (or writer, photographer, etc.). Designing a stunning full-page graphic of the ocean blue, for example, once took natural talent and skill. Now, a computer can do it in a matter of seconds.
The Development of AI Agents
While a novel idea, AI agents are likely to become more common over the next few decades. These bots work as personal assistants; they can book airline travel, secure restaurant reservations, or buy movie tickets. The idea is to make human life easier by having robots assume menial tasks.
The concept, undoubtedly, will be welcomed by some and disliked by others. For instance, a maid of honor buying a plane ticket to her best friend’s wedding may feel uneasy trusting a bot to book such essential travel plans. Booking a ticket to your boss’s talk on energy-efficient paper shredders, on the flip side, might be something you’d trust with AI.
Improved Advertising
AI will likely improve advertising due to its machine-learning capabilities, which can systematically understand what types of marketing work best on individual platforms. As AI-generated ads become more common (and effective), AI will rival the prototypical Ad exec sitting in a comfy Chicago high-rise. But executives don’t need to hang up their perfectly tailored suits just yet: AI ads might rival human-made advertising, but they won’t replace it.
The heart of advertising lies in its ability to make people feel something. The most effective ads are those people can relate to, those that tug at their heartstrings, and those that make them laugh. AI might have many good qualities, but humanity isn’t one of them.
AI Burnout…Maybe
AI is relatively new, but many people are already burned out. AI writing, for example, is polished, accurate, and grammatically correct, but it doesn’t have creativity, genuineness, humor, nuance, or heart and soul (elements that make human writing stand out). For this reason, many companies that hire freelancers and contractors explicitly stipulate that no AI writing is allowed.
If you have any questions about AI or social media, give us a shout; we’ll gladly help.