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What AI means for social media

December 14, 2023

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How will AI impact the evolution of social media?

Today we’ll be exploring the impact that artificial intelligence will have on the future of social media platforms, both good and bad. Here are some things you should know:

  • 🤖 AI Will Be the New Social Butterfly: In the near future, artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to revolutionize social media by enhancing user experiences through personalized content curation and smarter recommendation algorithms. We're looking at AI systems that can understand user preferences, moods, and interests in real-time, making the endless scroll on social platforms more engaging and relevant. This shift is expected to occur progressively over the next few years, as AI technologies continue to advance.

    • And it’s already happening: ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, utilizes AI algorithms to personalize user feeds, often leading to the mysterious yet addictive "TikTok rabbit hole" experience.

  • 🔮 Predictive Policing of Content: AI will not just personalize; it'll protect. Anticipating the rise of advanced AI tools capable of monitoring and moderating content in real-time, social media platforms will likely become safer and more inclusive spaces. This AI-driven moderation will be crucial in combating misinformation, hate speech, and cyberbullying, although it may raise concerns about censorship and privacy. The implementation of these systems is expected to ramp up in the coming years, as social platforms grapple with regulatory pressures and public demands for safer online environments.

    • In the real world: Hive uses AI to moderate content for platforms like Reddit, identifying harmful posts with more precision than ever – like having a digital superhero guarding online spaces.

  • 🌍 Breaking Language Barriers: AI is poised to break down language barriers like never before, fostering a more connected global social media community. With real-time, accurate translation services and cultural context recognition, AI will enable seamless interactions across different languages and cultures. This could lead to a surge in international connections and collaborations on social platforms within the next decade.

    • In fact: Facebook's AI Research team (FAIR) developed a multilingual machine translation model that can translate directly between any pair of 100 languages without relying on English as a bridge.

  • 💡 AI Influencers: The future might see AI-generated influencers taking center stage on social media. These virtual beings, powered by sophisticated AI algorithms, could create content, interact with users, and even lead social trends, offering a new paradigm in digital marketing and entertainment. While this might sound like science fiction, advancements in AI-generated graphics and personality simulation suggest that this could be a reality within the next few years.

    • Some are already taking advantage: Lil Miquela, a virtual influencer created by Brud, has amassed nearly 3 million Instagram followers, blurring the lines between AI and celebrity culture.

  • 🚧 Balancing Innovation and Ethics: However, this AI-driven social media utopia isn't without its challenges. As AI becomes more integrated into social platforms, ethical considerations around user privacy, data security, and the potential for AI to perpetuate biases and misinformation will become increasingly prominent. Navigating these ethical waters will be crucial for tech companies, requiring a delicate balance between innovation and responsibility. This ongoing debate will shape the evolution of AI in social media over the coming years.

    • The conversation is already heating up: The AI Ethics Lab focuses on developing guidelines and consulting on ethical AI practices, ensuring AI doesn't turn into the tech version of a wild west.

What do the experts say?

Now, let’s hear from some experts on the topic:

“AI's involvement in social media also carries negative effects. Algorithmic bias is one such concern. AI algorithms may unintentionally favour certain demographics or content, which can perpetuate biases and lead to limited diversity in content recommendations. The quest for personalisation sometimes comes at the cost of user privacy.”

— Nerieda Keenan, from Navigating the Impact of AI on Social Media: Pros and Cons

“I worry that humanity will largely accept the hyper-individualism and social and moral distance made possible by digital technology and assume that this is how society should function. I worry that our social and political divisions will grow wider if we continue to invest ourselves personally and institutionally in the false efficiencies and false democracies of Twitter-like social media.”

— Erhardt Graeff, from As AI Spreads, Experts Predict the Best and Worst Changes in Digital Life by 2035

“The comparisons between artificial intelligence regulation and social media aren't just academic, either. New AI technology could take the already troubled waters of websites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter and turn them into a boiling sea of disinformation, as it becomes increasingly difficult to separate posts by real humans from fake - but entirely believable - AI-generated accounts. Even if government succeeds in enacting new social media regulations, they may be pointless in the face of a flood of pernicious AI-generated content.”

— Anthony Zurcher, from AI: How 'freaked out' should we be?

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