Bear in mind the date of March 3, 2023.

It could be simply one other Friday on the calendar, nevertheless it’s really the day a widely known social media firm introduced their very own demise. It’s additionally the start of the top for all social media.

That’s proper, March 3 is when LinkedIn introduced a brand new “collaborative article” idea, which (when you observe AI developments and know the way these items normally pan out) appears innocent sufficient at first. Previous to this, it was — a voicebot will all the time be accessible in your house or a robotic automobile will drive you to work. Within the announcement, LinkedIn talked about this innocuous phrase: “These articles start as AI-powered dialog starters, developed with our editorial staff.”

What’s actually occurring right here? My guess is that LinkedIn is utilizing AI to scan their very own platform (what they declare is “10 billion years {of professional} expertise”) to generate AI-created content material. As people, we’ll reply to those posts as a result of they are going to be tailored to encourage a response and debate. How these posts shall be labeled continues to be unknown. What’s clear is that there shall be a plethora of AI-enabled content material meant to encourage extra engagement.

One report referred to as this semi-automated social media. I are inclined to take a darker view. I not too long ago wrote about how an AI chatbot is posting on Twitter, and that the commenters are sometimes a bit confused about whether or not the account is powered by an actual human or not. It’s a curious growth. I’m in favor of AI serving to us do our work. I’m not in favor of individuals pondering content material created by a human is definitely one thing cooked up by an AI, principally as a result of it means your entire expertise will degrade, one submit at a time. I’ve already skilled far more LinkedIn spam messaging of late, to the purpose the place I now barely learn any direct messages in any respect. The very last thing I would like is AI spam.

The query is the place this all will lead. As soon as AI begins controlling the algorithm and posting content material to lure us into extra discussions, it’s only a matter of time earlier than an increasing number of accounts that seem to be human (with an AI-generated face and a pretend location) begin invading these networks, ruining the expertise for all of us.

Think about how this would possibly work.

On a typical day, you would possibly login to LinkedIn or Fb, scrolling by way of your feed. You see loads of feedback and vigorous dialogue. But it surely’s all a ruse. The social media platform has allowed and even enabled the AI accounts to create the discussions (and the feedback), and they’re geared for you — your pursuits and proclivities. The chats will all the time look interesting as a result of the social media networks know what you want and what you normally observe.

On Instagram and TikTok, bots will know which images and movies you want the perfect, however with out the human factor, it should all grow to be nothing greater than a technique to seize your consideration much more and maintain you hooked longer on the apps, displaying you advertisements which are additionally fine-tuned to your curiosity. To not make all of it sound too dire, however consider The Matrix and the second Neo realized he was (spoiler alert for the 5 individuals who don’t know this) nothing greater than a battery in a tube.

After we are all surrounded by AI bots appearing like people, content material that was not generated by people and advertisements powered by algorithms, it should really feel about the identical as The Matrix. None of it should appear actual. After which one in every of it should have worth.

With apologies to Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, this could be after we attain behind our neck and pull the twine out. It could be when social media lastly loses its grip on us and we notice it was all designed to maintain us hooked to their promoting formulation in spite of everything. I hope we do get up earlier than that nightmare happens.