As the enshittification of the internet (and platforms in particular) has accelerated, you have AI bots trying to trick users into engaging. Could a bot-war where users employ bots to counter be far?
I have to maintain FB since I do social media for one of my clients... but man, does it suck. And AI is the devil. I hate it. It's lazy and disingenuous. I've heard some copywriters use it as a thought starter, but I'm like, wow....you're literally being paid to "think". Thanks for the 404 link. Informative. 👍
People hate the AI slop, especially human ones. I think it has to do with the “uncanny valley” feeling people get when supposedly human faces and bodies aren’t quite right. It’s creepy.
Happy Sunday Geoff - totally agree with you. I quit all Social media in 2018 for the same reasons you did and only recently came to Substack. AI is the devil's work IMO. Want proof? Watch Ant Man 3. 'Nuff said.
The Telegraph did a good piece about just this, this week. It even has a new word for 2025: 'slop'.
I got out of Facebook in 2014. For a few reasons. They talk about Washington D.C. being a swamp. Jeez Facebook the largest swamp I have seen but I assume Twitter is probably in 1st place now.
I got out the same year. I would find myself unaccountably angry at folks whom I not only did not know but in all likelihood would never meet in life and decided that FB was not for me.
A few years later we all learned of the algorithms!
I left Meta (only had FB/Messenger) on Christmas Day. Best mental health decision.
I have to maintain FB since I do social media for one of my clients... but man, does it suck. And AI is the devil. I hate it. It's lazy and disingenuous. I've heard some copywriters use it as a thought starter, but I'm like, wow....you're literally being paid to "think". Thanks for the 404 link. Informative. 👍
I do not have a problem using AI to start the process. Alas too many people are happy to just run with what it spits out.
And what it spits out - especially if you are looking for something technical - can be really bad and wrong.
There will be a new crop of kids entering the workforce who will not know how to tell what is bad about it
And that should frighten everyone.
But you (and I) know that the bosses and execs will not care, because it will allow them to replace 5 people with AI plus one "editor"
Lather, rinse, repeat.
People hate the AI slop, especially human ones. I think it has to do with the “uncanny valley” feeling people get when supposedly human faces and bodies aren’t quite right. It’s creepy.
Happy Sunday Geoff - totally agree with you. I quit all Social media in 2018 for the same reasons you did and only recently came to Substack. AI is the devil's work IMO. Want proof? Watch Ant Man 3. 'Nuff said.
The Telegraph did a good piece about just this, this week. It even has a new word for 2025: 'slop'.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/01/01/why-the-internet-is-filling-up-with-nonsense-ai-slop/ but I like your word better "enshittification". Nailed it. :o)
Thank you for keeping us informed.
I got out of Facebook in 2014. For a few reasons. They talk about Washington D.C. being a swamp. Jeez Facebook the largest swamp I have seen but I assume Twitter is probably in 1st place now.
I got out the same year. I would find myself unaccountably angry at folks whom I not only did not know but in all likelihood would never meet in life and decided that FB was not for me.
A few years later we all learned of the algorithms!