Social media addicts are the first humans AI will replace - [EDITED]
Abandon yourself to the matrix, and lose what makes you a human.
Note to my lovely reader : I had published this article a while ago but unpublished it because I added an illustration by mistake. Substack does not have the option to remove the image associated with an article, and I could not deal with that stupid image stuck in only one of my articles, nor did I want to add an image to all the other articles. Also, being slightly rigid sometimes, I could not have just one article with an image while the others had none. So I republish it with substantial edits.
Planned obsolescence
The strength of Instagram and TikTok lies not only in their user numbers and the powerful network effect they leverage to ensure viral content, but also in the killer features that provide users with small and consistent shots of dopamine. The most important of these features is infinite scroll down. This is how you find yourself watching snail races at 2AM, even though you initially opened your phone just to check your alarm time.
However, there is something even more alarming, especially for my romantic and old-fashioned soul: Instagram and TikTok have given rise to a new breed of individuals who can be described as shallow and somewhat useless. They are often referred to as influencers, at least for the "best" among them, but for the most part, they fall into the addict category. These individuals have become social media addicts, constantly seeking validation and unable to enjoy a moment for more than a few minutes without compulsively posting about what they are doing.
Here is my prediction : Artificial intelligence will make those humans obsoletes and useless1, in fact, they already are. Those individuals are likely to be among the first to be replaced by AI.
The robots enter the pitch
Now what's the matter with artificial intelligence? You are not ignoring, or maybe you are2 - that some sophisticated algorithms define most users' feeds. Instagram and TikTok do not rely on thousands of employees to curate and publish the content you scroll through for hours each day. Instead, they utilize robots, which are essentially server chips housed in data centers located in various places like Nebraska, Alaska, and Northern Virginia. These robots lack human-like appearance and are incapable of verbal communication, at least for now.
However, they possess impressive computational power and rely on machine learning algorithms trained on the vast amount of data that users, including social media addicts, leave on the World Wide Web. These algorithms form the backbone of their operations, enabling the platforms to deliver tailored content to users. Machine learning algorithms are a branch of artificial intelligence: They include a learning component, theoretically improving their precision when fed with more data and computation power3. This precision is subject to some hypotheses and the choice of a metric.
Social networks' back-ends4 are filled with such algorithms, and their main goal is simple: Make sure you are entertained and receiving dopamine shots when scrolling down on your phone. A large and scary part of your online behavior is stored and used to feed those algorithms to define what should appear on your feed. If you are flooded with dumb-looking foody influencers, you should be scared because it’s nothing but an accurate reflection of your center of interests, at least when it comes to online interactions. Your online self is nothing but your social media recommendations.
Let me note that 99.99% of self-proclaimed food influencers know very little about food and pretty much know nothing about anything. You'll find more about their shallowness in other articles of the blog. Please note that they invariably give horrible food tips as they only focus on what the plate looks like rather than the taste. It's because their inability to enjoy anything without the sensation of being seen and envied by anonymous individuals actually persuades them that what they eat is tasty. If you want good food tips, ask your grandmother, and if your grandmother is not available, ask someone else's grandmother. Just ask an old lady who cooks every day since ages, preferably one with Mediterranean descent5.
Dystopian times
And here comes the dystopia: social networks provide users with oversimplified metrics of success, namely likes and followers, which are not true measures of success but rather metrics of online social validation. These metrics, based on a one-dimensional system of peer-validation, create terrible incentives for those who fall victim to them. In essence, the way social media weighs social success becomes a reward for mediocrity and the pursuit of attention-grabbing trends. Build a nice brand with a solid offer, and you'll need years to reach a few thousand followers. Post your booty drinking a cocktail in some horrible lounge bar, claiming to be a millionaire, and give away your secret: reach thousands of humans in a few days 6.
An increasing percentage of people using those social networks are just entering an emotional free-fall, as their fundamental social dynamics quickly turn out to be dictated by oversimplified indicators. Note that we can also criminalize followers offering short-termist individuals a potentially infinite audience, and giving away their attention to their smartphone. I’m personally in favor of criminalizing everyone, ruthlessly 7.
The story of two humans reverse-failing the Turing test
Let's consider Dobson and Hakie, two influencers who epitomize the type prevalent in the 2020s. They often share their deep thoughts, such as the last time they gave a homeless person two pennies, while simultaneously posting amazing pictures showcasing their artificially enhanced boobs and pumped-up biceps. The problem arises when they begin claiming that their plastic bodies and steroid-induced muscles are a result of natural, healthy practices, thereby encouraging insecure teenagers to harm their bodies and face irreversible consequences.
At this stage, I am tempted to propose a simple heuristic: The more an individual contains plastic or steroids, the more vulnerable they become to the influence of a transient and all-powerful artificial intelligence. This vulnerability arises because their existence is based on a rather naïve algorithm, and it is highly likely that they lack intellectual depth. Always beware of 80% polyester individuals.
Dobson and Hakie are extraordinary, and here is why they differ from the 2000s web stars: If you glance at them for a second, you would immediately guess they are some Instagram and TikTok influencers. They always hold their phone in their hand. Whatever the situation, they have this fake-looking semi-cheap semi-fancy fashion style and have generally been through one or several surgeries. You can quickly point out the spots where these two bright minds would take pictures in a town. They even created an adjective: Instagrammable.
Their skin looks soft but a bit plastic-ish. You can find them on any fancy rooftop or well-decorated restaurant: their incentives are simple and will go to the most visually appealing spots. Once the waiter shows up with their meals, they will frenetically trigger their camera and share the whole world-wide-web a must-seen picture of some fusion-food plates with a stunning view in the background. Dobson and Hakie have their entire lives dictated by their social networks. Life incentives are complex, and you need years to grasp what makes you truly happy. Frequent and regular shots of virtual dopamine can trick you into this meaningless life.
And here comes an even bigger dystopia: those who are the most vulnerable to the algorithms, those whose authenticity is falling apart, are given an unrestricted right to talk to the mass: They become influencers. Their content will populate thousands of peoples' feeds and inspire a new generation to take pictures so some brands can pay for them. Short-termism is winning, and so is the artificial intelligence that built Dobson and Hakie.
Turing proposed that a computer can be said to possess artificial intelligence if it can mimic human responses under specific conditions. Sooner rather than later, influencers' data distributions will be sufficiently uniform and predictable for some artificial intelligence to replicate their behavior.
Well … even more useless, if that’s possible.
If you think there are humans manually updating the feed … well you don’t think so hopefully.
And most data comes from a minority of source, see the Pareto principle. In this case, a smaller percentage comes from a few very active accounts run by narcissists.
The back part of a software application, where the business logic is implemented and the data engineering takes place, before being rendered by the front.
Big up to my Algerian grandparents.
A rule of thumb. If a restaurant plays lounge or house music then : 1) The owner is never here and doesn’t care about the food quality, they cook with no love 2) Staff is underpaid or outsourced 3) It may launder money 4) The plates are aesthetics but food is bad 5) The cook is either depressed or a giant idiot. Please test it yourself and tell me I’m wrong.
If you don’t see the irony, then you must be an American.