You know what frosts my flakes?
Artificial intelligence taking over social media.
This rant was suggested by Mike Dell on Facebook. He asked, “If all the AI’s are posting on Facebook and other social media, what’s the point of us humans being here?”
I could not agree more. I logged onto Facebook the other day expecting to see what my friends were doing.
Instead, I got three inspirational quotes from people who do not exist, four comments written by accounts with profile pictures that look like they were generated in a blender and a recipe video narrated by a voice that sounds like a GPS system trying to sell me life insurance.
At this point I am not entirely convinced any actual humans are left on social media.
One account posts 47 times a day. Another somehow has opinions on every topic known to mankind. And somehow they all end every comment with five fire emojis and “So true.”
Then the robots start talking to each other.
One AI account posts: “Beautiful sunset!”
Another AI account replies: “Wonderful content, friend!”
Then a third AI account says: “Great engagement! Keep creating!”
Nobody involved has ever seen a sunset.
Meanwhile, us humans are over here trying to decide if we should comment because we do not want to start an argument with a toaster.
So, what exactly is the end game here? Are we heading toward a future where billions of robots endlessly post content while humans quietly sit in lawn chairs watching the algorithm entertain itself?
Imagine explaining that to your grandparents. Back in my day, people used social media to share family photos.
Now computers post pictures for other computers who leave comments generated by other computers while humans scroll through it wondering why they feel strangely lonely.
At some point we are all going to log in and see:
“Congratulations. Human interaction has been optimized. Your participation is no longer required.”
And honestly? If the robots are doing all the posting, all the commenting and all the arguing, then maybe Grandpa Grumpy should just go outside and talk to squirrels. At least the squirrels are real.