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I’m pretty unconvinced by the AI influencer idea. Most of them are just niche aggregator type of things, not accounts with real influence. By the time AI can re

I’m pretty unconvinced by the AI influencer idea. Most of them are just niche aggregator type of things, not accounts with real influence. By the time AI can replicate a streaming live video, devices and platforms will have already implemented real-identity features. Remember that the platforms themselves don’t benefit from AI content dominating everything and are pretty incentivized to ensure that content is from real people.

ben_w 2y ago
I don't buy any of that. Well, except for "most are just", which is plausible. > platforms will have already implemented real-identity features FB already has this, in theory, but that doesn't stop people scamming with it. Those policies didn't even stop people organising a genocide: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_content_management_controversies#Incitement_of_human_rights_abuses_in_Myanmar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_content_management_co... > Remember that the platforms themselves don’t benefit from AI content dominating everything and are pretty incentivized to ensure that content is from real people. These platforms themselves are AI. Even when the posts are made by humans — and posts don't need to be "real time" nor do they need to be video — the feed is algorithmic to maximise your attention, and the choices of which advert to stick in front of your eyes are chosen algorithmically to maximise revenue… and even before the use of LLMs for copy and diffusion models for images, the ads themselves are AB tested by the businesses to see which have the greatest effect.
- keiferski 2y ago
  YouTube, instagram etc. do not benefit from a world in which their entire content base is AI generated slop. They need real people to spend time and attention there in order to sell ads, and that includes creators.
  - ben_w 2y ago
    > YouTube, instagram etc. do not benefit from a world in which their entire content base is AI generated slop. "slop" being the key word. I remember when all 3D animation was "slop". But even ignoring technological progress, lots of people have regularly criticised mass media for being "slop", and yet the masses keep eating it up — the other side of that coin is that even if we had an AI that was essentially a perfectly sublime artist, I'd expect it to go like this: https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/ai-12 https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/ai-12
    - keiferski 2y ago
      As I said in the original comment, I think people largely follow content creators for “human reasons”, including that they feel a connection to the creator. This doesn’t exist with AI tools and functionally never will. The future of media is even more personality-driven than it is already.
      - ben_w 2y ago
        > I think people largely follow content creators for “human reasons”, including that they feel a connection to the creator. This doesn’t exist with AI tools and functionally never will. The feeling is already found to exist entirely independent of the reality: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasocial_interaction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasocial_interaction
        keiferski 2y ago
        Where do you propose the future AI influencers of the world are going to get their inputs? How can they make content so good that it replaces human creators, if those human creators aren’t even expressing themselves? It will be entirely disconnected from culture and therefore not be compelling to viewers in the first place. The AI-replacement theory just doesn’t line up with how online trends and social behavior actually works. Creators become popular because they are relatable, are charismatic, etc. not because they have a formula that can be replaced by a machine.
        EGreg 2y ago
        This is the same kind of thing people always say, that a machine can’t replace a doctor’s bedside manner or a pilot’s intuition. Here is a clip from the first Iron Man, watch the first 15 seconds, word for word same kind of sentiment: https://youtu.be/ZygApeuBZdk?si=6rRDvAncOoiO4cEo https://youtu.be/ZygApeuBZdk?si=6rRDvAncOoiO4cEo And then technology proceeds to trounce humans and it turns out that people dont want London Cabbies to have “The Knowledge”, they’re totally happy with an Uber driver to mindlessly follow the GPS routing system which knows far more about traffic. And then a self driving car which never has any social issues and can regale you with anything you want during the drive, stay silent or play you any movie. Did you ask your parents for most subjects or ask google? People overestimate how much their special idiosynchrasies are needed by other people. They just want to get in, get out, and get what they want. This was a year ago: https://nypost.com/2024/03/26/lifestyle/im-a-model-whos-so-hot-that-people-accuse-me-of-being-ai-its-complete-insanity/ https://nypost.com/2024/03/26/lifestyle/im-a-model-whos-so-h... https://medium.com/@blinx/combating-the-proliferation-of-social-media-fake-accounts-with-ai-technology-7f8bb9ece43a https://medium.com/@blinx/combating-the-proliferation-of-soc... https://futurism.com/ai-generated-influencers https://futurism.com/ai-generated-influencers And if you add partially AI-produced content, such as automatic clips translations b-roll and edits etc. it becomes even more content that’s AI produced. People expect that increasing level of production value, and soon they will treat human influencers the same way they treat, say, a picasso painting vs DALL-E. The Picasso painting is just there, it can’t crank out what you want every minute. So it is a curiosity. But not where you get most of your news or whatever. All the qualities you mentioned can be replaced by a superstimulus and most people will come to prefer it the same way birds prefer rounder fake eggs to their own eggs, and even kick their own eggs out. As for where they will get the content? Where does news on twitter and telegram appear from? Crowdsourced news from everyone having a cellphone and then everyone discussing what they just uploaded. Citizen journalism. Just summarize a freaking forum and you have a podcast in all languages recorded in whatever voice and hottest anchors you want. And they can then also tell you anything you want to know in the “would you like to know more?” fashion of Starship Stormtroopers, if it had been a thing LOL. And sell you far better because they can give you individual attention and remember preferences of millions of people and your friends. And solve the two-sigma problem for educating students. Results will matter for parents. This next generation will grow up with AI friends and tutors, and will not want human tutors — for most subjects ! Let’s hope this next generation will still want human friends.
- portaouflop 2y ago
  Big companies themselves are arguably a form of „slow“ AI. I don’t think large corporations are under the control of humans anymore, haven’t been for >50 years. Our entire economy is controlled by non-human intelligences
- EGreg 2y ago
  “FB already has this” Not only that but Instagram — owned by FB - is totally being overrun by AI-produced content. Including, for instance, digital models and women, they’ve solved the fingers problem. In a way it’s good because women will no longer aspire to show off their body to many strangers, and AI will generate whatever the audience wants instead. This was a year ago: https://nypost.com/2024/03/26/lifestyle/im-a-model-whos-so-hot-that-people-accuse-me-of-being-ai-its-complete-insanity/ https://nypost.com/2024/03/26/lifestyle/im-a-model-whos-so-h... https://medium.com/@blinx/combating-the-proliferation-of-social-media-fake-accounts-with-ai-technology-7f8bb9ece43a https://medium.com/@blinx/combating-the-proliferation-of-soc... https://futurism.com/ai-generated-influencers https://futurism.com/ai-generated-influencers And if you add partially AI-produced content, such as automatic clips translations b-roll and edits etc. it becomes even more content that’s AI produced.

ben_w 2y ago

I don't buy any of that. Well, except for "most are just", which is plausible. > platforms will have already implemented real-identity features FB already has this, in theory, but that doesn't stop people scamming with it. Those policies didn't even stop people organising a genocide: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_content_management_controversies#Incitement_of_human_rights_abuses_in_Myanmar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_content_management_co... > Remember that the platforms themselves don’t benefit from AI content dominating everything and are pretty incentivized to ensure that content is from real people. These platforms themselves are AI. Even when the posts are made by humans — and posts don't need to be "real time" nor do they need to be video — the feed is algorithmic to maximise your attention, and the choices of which advert to stick in front of your eyes are chosen algorithmically to maximise revenue… and even before the use of LLMs for copy and diffusion models for images, the ads themselves are AB tested by the businesses to see which have the greatest effect.

keiferski 2y ago
YouTube, instagram etc. do not benefit from a world in which their entire content base is AI generated slop. They need real people to spend time and attention there in order to sell ads, and that includes creators.
- ben_w 2y ago
  > YouTube, instagram etc. do not benefit from a world in which their entire content base is AI generated slop. "slop" being the key word. I remember when all 3D animation was "slop". But even ignoring technological progress, lots of people have regularly criticised mass media for being "slop", and yet the masses keep eating it up — the other side of that coin is that even if we had an AI that was essentially a perfectly sublime artist, I'd expect it to go like this: https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/ai-12 https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/ai-12
  - keiferski 2y ago
    As I said in the original comment, I think people largely follow content creators for “human reasons”, including that they feel a connection to the creator. This doesn’t exist with AI tools and functionally never will. The future of media is even more personality-driven than it is already.
    - ben_w 2y ago
      > I think people largely follow content creators for “human reasons”, including that they feel a connection to the creator. This doesn’t exist with AI tools and functionally never will. The feeling is already found to exist entirely independent of the reality: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasocial_interaction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasocial_interaction
      - keiferski 2y ago
        Where do you propose the future AI influencers of the world are going to get their inputs? How can they make content so good that it replaces human creators, if those human creators aren’t even expressing themselves? It will be entirely disconnected from culture and therefore not be compelling to viewers in the first place. The AI-replacement theory just doesn’t line up with how online trends and social behavior actually works. Creators become popular because they are relatable, are charismatic, etc. not because they have a formula that can be replaced by a machine.
        EGreg 2y ago
        This is the same kind of thing people always say, that a machine can’t replace a doctor’s bedside manner or a pilot’s intuition. Here is a clip from the first Iron Man, watch the first 15 seconds, word for word same kind of sentiment: https://youtu.be/ZygApeuBZdk?si=6rRDvAncOoiO4cEo https://youtu.be/ZygApeuBZdk?si=6rRDvAncOoiO4cEo And then technology proceeds to trounce humans and it turns out that people dont want London Cabbies to have “The Knowledge”, they’re totally happy with an Uber driver to mindlessly follow the GPS routing system which knows far more about traffic. And then a self driving car which never has any social issues and can regale you with anything you want during the drive, stay silent or play you any movie. Did you ask your parents for most subjects or ask google? People overestimate how much their special idiosynchrasies are needed by other people. They just want to get in, get out, and get what they want. This was a year ago: https://nypost.com/2024/03/26/lifestyle/im-a-model-whos-so-hot-that-people-accuse-me-of-being-ai-its-complete-insanity/ https://nypost.com/2024/03/26/lifestyle/im-a-model-whos-so-h... https://medium.com/@blinx/combating-the-proliferation-of-social-media-fake-accounts-with-ai-technology-7f8bb9ece43a https://medium.com/@blinx/combating-the-proliferation-of-soc... https://futurism.com/ai-generated-influencers https://futurism.com/ai-generated-influencers And if you add partially AI-produced content, such as automatic clips translations b-roll and edits etc. it becomes even more content that’s AI produced. People expect that increasing level of production value, and soon they will treat human influencers the same way they treat, say, a picasso painting vs DALL-E. The Picasso painting is just there, it can’t crank out what you want every minute. So it is a curiosity. But not where you get most of your news or whatever. All the qualities you mentioned can be replaced by a superstimulus and most people will come to prefer it the same way birds prefer rounder fake eggs to their own eggs, and even kick their own eggs out. As for where they will get the content? Where does news on twitter and telegram appear from? Crowdsourced news from everyone having a cellphone and then everyone discussing what they just uploaded. Citizen journalism. Just summarize a freaking forum and you have a podcast in all languages recorded in whatever voice and hottest anchors you want. And they can then also tell you anything you want to know in the “would you like to know more?” fashion of Starship Stormtroopers, if it had been a thing LOL. And sell you far better because they can give you individual attention and remember preferences of millions of people and your friends. And solve the two-sigma problem for educating students. Results will matter for parents. This next generation will grow up with AI friends and tutors, and will not want human tutors — for most subjects ! Let’s hope this next generation will still want human friends.
portaouflop 2y ago
Big companies themselves are arguably a form of „slow“ AI. I don’t think large corporations are under the control of humans anymore, haven’t been for >50 years. Our entire economy is controlled by non-human intelligences
EGreg 2y ago
“FB already has this” Not only that but Instagram — owned by FB - is totally being overrun by AI-produced content. Including, for instance, digital models and women, they’ve solved the fingers problem. In a way it’s good because women will no longer aspire to show off their body to many strangers, and AI will generate whatever the audience wants instead. This was a year ago: https://nypost.com/2024/03/26/lifestyle/im-a-model-whos-so-hot-that-people-accuse-me-of-being-ai-its-complete-insanity/ https://nypost.com/2024/03/26/lifestyle/im-a-model-whos-so-h... https://medium.com/@blinx/combating-the-proliferation-of-social-media-fake-accounts-with-ai-technology-7f8bb9ece43a https://medium.com/@blinx/combating-the-proliferation-of-soc... https://futurism.com/ai-generated-influencers https://futurism.com/ai-generated-influencers And if you add partially AI-produced content, such as automatic clips translations b-roll and edits etc. it becomes even more content that’s AI produced.