7 ms·

I love this paragrpah and I think it provides an interesting insight: > They are entertainment platforms that delegate media creation to the users themselves t

I love this paragrpah and I think it provides an interesting insight: > They are entertainment platforms that delegate media creation to the users themselves the same way Uber replaced taxis by having people drive others in their own car. Taking this analogy further, is today's end goal of social media to provide AI generated content that users can endlessly consume? I think Facebook is heading this direction.

nicoburns 9mo ago
> is today's end goal of social media to provide AI generated content that users can endlessly consume? I think Facebook is heading this direction. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts have already gone a long way down that path. I don't think users like this content much though.
- hamdingers 9mo ago
  They don't have to like it they just need to engage with it.
  - BoingBoomTschak 9mo ago
    As KMFDM once said: We want to stop reading magazines, stop watching TV, stop caring about Hollywood but we're addicted to the things we hate
    - amatecha 9mo ago
      In high school English class we had to present a "poem" of our choice, of any sort - which included music pieces (or whatever other format). The song you quoted (KMFDM - Dogma) was my choice. The assignment included handing out the poem and reading (or playing it) to the class... Uhh, needless to say this got a pretty interesting reaction, but to the credit of the teacher, she didn't stop the music (or confiscate the printed out lyrics I handed out to everyone) despite the various swear words and pretty interesting messages in the lyrics. FWIW the lyrics are written by (and spoken word performed by) guest artist Nicole Blackman (according to https://www.discogs.com/release/73597-KMFDM-Xtort https://www.discogs.com/release/73597-KMFDM-Xtort )
- plagiarist 9mo ago
  Which users? I typically dislike TikTok and other shorts but the platforms seem to be wildly popular even despite my opinions.
- elemdos 9mo ago
  They only dislike it when they can tell it’s AI, but that’s becoming less and less of a possibility.
lll-o-lll 9mo ago
We are destroying ourselves; the very core of what it is to be human. I say this acknowledging the irony of writing this on my phone, on a Sunday morning, when I should be engaging with the real world and people in my life. Television was rightly criticised for being the opiate of the masses; a continuous stream of entertainment that allows you to ‘stop thinking’ to endure boredom. However it had some constraints. The box was in a fixed space, I could not bring it with me. The content was fixed, it could not always engage me. Social media, and every other ‘content delivery’ system is not like this. It is in my pocket, there is so much content, it can keep me continually engaged. AI content generation optimises this, perhaps, but we already live in this dystopia. Rise up and revolt! Put down our phones and refuse to engage! Our very lives, our humanity depends on it!
- shadowgovt 9mo ago
  That sounds like work.
- kbrkbr 9mo ago
  The original opiate for the people criticism was leveled against religion by Karl Marx: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_of_the_people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_of_the_people
  - andrepd 9mo ago
    ... This is relevant how?
    - jama211 9mo ago
      I found it interesting, etymology of the phrase
  - lll-o-lll 9mo ago
    https://www.reddit.com/r/calvinandhobbes/comments/6pontu/what_does_it_mean/ https://www.reddit.com/r/calvinandhobbes/comments/6pontu/wha... ;-)
  - 9mo ago
spwa4 9mo ago
> Taking this analogy further, is today's end goal of social media to provide AI generated content that users can endlessly consume? The singular purpose of social media has always been advertising. That 100% depends on the ability of platforms to control the message, which Facebook achieved to an extent that politicians started paying them in order to game elections. Then "influencers" came, and largely control the message on essentially all platforms. By contrast, on Youtube and Twitter, advertisers are making deals directly with specific influencers so their advertising remains on-target. Only "old-style" generic geo-targeted advertising, what you used to see on TV, uses the platforms themselves. AI achieves many things for these platforms: 1) get rid of influencers by creating AI influencers (done both by influencers themselves, attempting to create fake/AI influencers that are cheaper, and by the platforms that want to control the process) 2) allow advertisers to control the message (think of a guarantee not to get shown on pro-Nazi channels) 3) force advertisers to come to the platforms instead of specific influencers 4) also get the ability to influence and later even control elections
- PaulHoule 9mo ago
  Well, I'd be careful about the "always", when Facebook and Twitter started out they understood virality but they did not understand monetization -- early on the likes of Zynga and King were making money off Facebook and it wasn't until Facebook was forced to go public and Sheryl Sandberg was running things that they figured out that they could capture the free publicity brands got on Facebook and sell it back to them.
- basisword 9mo ago
  >> The singular purpose of social media has always been advertising. This just isn't true. There was a time when we had a chronological feed, only containing content from friends and family, and no advertising. The business model end goal was always advertising but social media doesn't necessarily need to be for that purpose (e.g. the fediverse).
emptybits 9mo ago
Maybe what I need is an AI agent to consume AI generated content on my behalf. Then I can continue with my strong preference to direct my time and attention toward content generated, mostly, by my fellow humans.
- JKCalhoun 9mo ago
  You jest, but I would it if my AI agent suggested, "How about a book to read? Stay off the internet for a week—I picked up a used book on eBay for you that I think you'll enjoy. Don't worry, I paid for it by doing a little trading on the side."
- Dilettante_ 9mo ago
  [dead]
- xnx 9mo ago
  > Maybe what I need is an AI agent to consume AI generated content on my behalf. I use an AI powered tool to "listen" to podcasts and remove ads from them before I listen to the podcast myself.
tw04 9mo ago
We’ve started instituting a “no phones” policy when the kids have sleepovers to try to combat this at least a little bit, and have constant conversations about why things like Instagram are toxic and we should just try to spend our time enjoying life. Obviously I’m also posting here while I wait in the car waiting to pick someone up, but I actively make an effort to unplug on a regular basis.
- criticalfault 9mo ago
  isn't HN more like professional news/discussion place? is it considered social media?
  - wccrawford 9mo ago
    This is absolutely social media. And like all addicts, people here loudly proclaim that it's less toxic. Whether or not is it indeed less toxic is up for debate.
    - direwolf20 9mo ago
      It's highly censored.
      - potato3732842 9mo ago
        And it has the little Righthink number in the corner that goes up when you make Righthink.
        JKCalhoun 9mo ago
        Maybe. But that Righthink number has also reminded me when I am being too combative (trollish) online. It's also fun to throw caution to the wind with a "fuck it" and just let your comment fade away after having ranted at the clouds.
  - BbzzbB 9mo ago
    What:s the difference between reddit and HN beyond the form? It seems to be obviously social media to me
basisword 9mo ago
I think in 12 months we're not going to know the difference unless we put in some serious effort. I use AI quite a lot and it's great, but don't like it for 'media' in general. Personally, I don't want to support AI generated audio, video, or text content. This past week I came across an Instagram account, found it interesting and followed it. Admittedly it was some high-level cookie cutter self-help stuff. Easy to catch your attention. Eventually I dug into it a bit more and it was 100% AI generated. I'd missed it completely and there were no comments suggesting it was AI content either despite over 1m followers. If you want to be sure the media you are viewing is actually created by real people, algorithmic feeds are no longer an option. It will be interesting to see over the next year or two whether there is a large backlash and people start seeking out content they are positive is created by real people, or if that becomes a subculture and the masses are happy with their circus.
- A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 9mo ago
  Maybe. I am saying this not to be contrarian, but I am seeing a rather specific pattern in some areas. Chatgpt used to be pretty decent in cross thread musings, but those got capped hard to the point that even wide recall invocation does not always work as intended. And that change wasn't just about resources. Similar stuff seems to be happening with various lawsuits on the 'creative' side. All this makes me thing that while the capability may be there for those who want it, openly accessible stuff will be heavily nerfed. You know, just like now.
direwolf20 9mo ago
Yes.
hawaiianbrah 9mo ago
Meta has already introduced a dedicated app for exactly this: https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/25/meta-launches-vibes-a-short-form-video-feed-of-ai-slop/ https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/25/meta-launches-vibes-a-shor...
BrtByte 9mo ago
Once you see social media as an attention-extraction machine rather than a communication system, outsourcing creation to users starts to look like a temporary optimization, not the end state
JKCalhoun 9mo ago
If the final step is then just AI watching their own AI-created content then I'm okay with it.

nicoburns 9mo ago

> is today's end goal of social media to provide AI generated content that users can endlessly consume? I think Facebook is heading this direction. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts have already gone a long way down that path. I don't think users like this content much though.

hamdingers 9mo ago
They don't have to like it they just need to engage with it.
- BoingBoomTschak 9mo ago
  As KMFDM once said: We want to stop reading magazines, stop watching TV, stop caring about Hollywood but we're addicted to the things we hate
  - amatecha 9mo ago
    In high school English class we had to present a "poem" of our choice, of any sort - which included music pieces (or whatever other format). The song you quoted (KMFDM - Dogma) was my choice. The assignment included handing out the poem and reading (or playing it) to the class... Uhh, needless to say this got a pretty interesting reaction, but to the credit of the teacher, she didn't stop the music (or confiscate the printed out lyrics I handed out to everyone) despite the various swear words and pretty interesting messages in the lyrics. FWIW the lyrics are written by (and spoken word performed by) guest artist Nicole Blackman (according to https://www.discogs.com/release/73597-KMFDM-Xtort https://www.discogs.com/release/73597-KMFDM-Xtort )
plagiarist 9mo ago
Which users? I typically dislike TikTok and other shorts but the platforms seem to be wildly popular even despite my opinions.
elemdos 9mo ago
They only dislike it when they can tell it’s AI, but that’s becoming less and less of a possibility.

lll-o-lll 9mo ago

We are destroying ourselves; the very core of what it is to be human. I say this acknowledging the irony of writing this on my phone, on a Sunday morning, when I should be engaging with the real world and people in my life. Television was rightly criticised for being the opiate of the masses; a continuous stream of entertainment that allows you to ‘stop thinking’ to endure boredom. However it had some constraints. The box was in a fixed space, I could not bring it with me. The content was fixed, it could not always engage me. Social media, and every other ‘content delivery’ system is not like this. It is in my pocket, there is so much content, it can keep me continually engaged. AI content generation optimises this, perhaps, but we already live in this dystopia. Rise up and revolt! Put down our phones and refuse to engage! Our very lives, our humanity depends on it!

shadowgovt 9mo ago
That sounds like work.
kbrkbr 9mo ago
The original opiate for the people criticism was leveled against religion by Karl Marx: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_of_the_people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_of_the_people
- andrepd 9mo ago
  ... This is relevant how?
  - jama211 9mo ago
    I found it interesting, etymology of the phrase
- lll-o-lll 9mo ago
  https://www.reddit.com/r/calvinandhobbes/comments/6pontu/what_does_it_mean/ https://www.reddit.com/r/calvinandhobbes/comments/6pontu/wha... ;-)
- 9mo ago

spwa4 9mo ago

> Taking this analogy further, is today's end goal of social media to provide AI generated content that users can endlessly consume? The singular purpose of social media has always been advertising. That 100% depends on the ability of platforms to control the message, which Facebook achieved to an extent that politicians started paying them in order to game elections. Then "influencers" came, and largely control the message on essentially all platforms. By contrast, on Youtube and Twitter, advertisers are making deals directly with specific influencers so their advertising remains on-target. Only "old-style" generic geo-targeted advertising, what you used to see on TV, uses the platforms themselves. AI achieves many things for these platforms: 1) get rid of influencers by creating AI influencers (done both by influencers themselves, attempting to create fake/AI influencers that are cheaper, and by the platforms that want to control the process) 2) allow advertisers to control the message (think of a guarantee not to get shown on pro-Nazi channels) 3) force advertisers to come to the platforms instead of specific influencers 4) also get the ability to influence and later even control elections

PaulHoule 9mo ago
Well, I'd be careful about the "always", when Facebook and Twitter started out they understood virality but they did not understand monetization -- early on the likes of Zynga and King were making money off Facebook and it wasn't until Facebook was forced to go public and Sheryl Sandberg was running things that they figured out that they could capture the free publicity brands got on Facebook and sell it back to them.
basisword 9mo ago
>> The singular purpose of social media has always been advertising. This just isn't true. There was a time when we had a chronological feed, only containing content from friends and family, and no advertising. The business model end goal was always advertising but social media doesn't necessarily need to be for that purpose (e.g. the fediverse).

emptybits 9mo ago

Maybe what I need is an AI agent to consume AI generated content on my behalf. Then I can continue with my strong preference to direct my time and attention toward content generated, mostly, by my fellow humans.

JKCalhoun 9mo ago
You jest, but I would it if my AI agent suggested, "How about a book to read? Stay off the internet for a week—I picked up a used book on eBay for you that I think you'll enjoy. Don't worry, I paid for it by doing a little trading on the side."
Dilettante_ 9mo ago
[dead]
xnx 9mo ago
> Maybe what I need is an AI agent to consume AI generated content on my behalf. I use an AI powered tool to "listen" to podcasts and remove ads from them before I listen to the podcast myself.

tw04 9mo ago

We’ve started instituting a “no phones” policy when the kids have sleepovers to try to combat this at least a little bit, and have constant conversations about why things like Instagram are toxic and we should just try to spend our time enjoying life. Obviously I’m also posting here while I wait in the car waiting to pick someone up, but I actively make an effort to unplug on a regular basis.

criticalfault 9mo ago
isn't HN more like professional news/discussion place? is it considered social media?
- wccrawford 9mo ago
  This is absolutely social media. And like all addicts, people here loudly proclaim that it's less toxic. Whether or not is it indeed less toxic is up for debate.
  - direwolf20 9mo ago
    It's highly censored.
    - potato3732842 9mo ago
      And it has the little Righthink number in the corner that goes up when you make Righthink.
      - JKCalhoun 9mo ago
        Maybe. But that Righthink number has also reminded me when I am being too combative (trollish) online. It's also fun to throw caution to the wind with a "fuck it" and just let your comment fade away after having ranted at the clouds.
- BbzzbB 9mo ago
  What:s the difference between reddit and HN beyond the form? It seems to be obviously social media to me

basisword 9mo ago

I think in 12 months we're not going to know the difference unless we put in some serious effort. I use AI quite a lot and it's great, but don't like it for 'media' in general. Personally, I don't want to support AI generated audio, video, or text content. This past week I came across an Instagram account, found it interesting and followed it. Admittedly it was some high-level cookie cutter self-help stuff. Easy to catch your attention. Eventually I dug into it a bit more and it was 100% AI generated. I'd missed it completely and there were no comments suggesting it was AI content either despite over 1m followers. If you want to be sure the media you are viewing is actually created by real people, algorithmic feeds are no longer an option. It will be interesting to see over the next year or two whether there is a large backlash and people start seeking out content they are positive is created by real people, or if that becomes a subculture and the masses are happy with their circus.

A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 9mo ago
Maybe. I am saying this not to be contrarian, but I am seeing a rather specific pattern in some areas. Chatgpt used to be pretty decent in cross thread musings, but those got capped hard to the point that even wide recall invocation does not always work as intended. And that change wasn't just about resources. Similar stuff seems to be happening with various lawsuits on the 'creative' side. All this makes me thing that while the capability may be there for those who want it, openly accessible stuff will be heavily nerfed. You know, just like now.

direwolf20 9mo ago

Yes.

hawaiianbrah 9mo ago

Meta has already introduced a dedicated app for exactly this: https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/25/meta-launches-vibes-a-short-form-video-feed-of-ai-slop/ https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/25/meta-launches-vibes-a-shor...

BrtByte 9mo ago

Once you see social media as an attention-extraction machine rather than a communication system, outsourcing creation to users starts to look like a temporary optimization, not the end state

JKCalhoun 9mo ago

If the final step is then just AI watching their own AI-created content then I'm okay with it.