Thanks for writing this, it clarifies a lot. Your analisys of social media's effects is really sharp. I absolutely agree the internet is heading to a strange place. But I wonder, could AI also be engineered to *elevate* long-form content, rather than just generating more noise? It's all about how we design the tools.
I think it absolutely COULD be, but I certainly don't think it WILL be. We were moving the way of short form content long before AI and I see, in the context of social platforms, as AI supercharging the algorithmic preferences of social platforms as is (i.e., short form content), not changing the direction of those algorithmic preferences.
The Instagram co-founders tried this, kinda, with their app Artifact (AI powered news generation to feed users what they want). It died after about a year, so sadly I don't know that the market is there yet.
Excellent piece but you can't make a list of profiles without including one by the GOAT: Taffy Brodesser-Akner!
Thanks for writing this, it clarifies a lot. Your analisys of social media's effects is really sharp. I absolutely agree the internet is heading to a strange place. But I wonder, could AI also be engineered to *elevate* long-form content, rather than just generating more noise? It's all about how we design the tools.
I think it absolutely COULD be, but I certainly don't think it WILL be. We were moving the way of short form content long before AI and I see, in the context of social platforms, as AI supercharging the algorithmic preferences of social platforms as is (i.e., short form content), not changing the direction of those algorithmic preferences.
The Instagram co-founders tried this, kinda, with their app Artifact (AI powered news generation to feed users what they want). It died after about a year, so sadly I don't know that the market is there yet.