Artificial intelligence-generated spam is a massive problem for social media networks. Increasingly sophisticated AI models are now able to replicate human-like interactions and generate realistic images and video clips, all of which has muddied the waters of online discourse.
But which platforms are seeing the worst impacts of AI spam?
According to a recent report, it’s LinkedIn, with 41% of all long-form posts in the app showing indicators that they were created by AI tools.
The data comes from Pangram, a technology company that created a browser extension used for detecting AI-generated writing online. There’s no AI detection software that’s 100% accurate, so it’s difficult to get a true measure on the full scope of the problem. But according to Pangram’s tracking, which is based on the average measurement across social media platforms, LinkedIn hosts the most AI-generated content, followed by X, where around a third of long-form posts are seemingly written by AI.
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Every platform is dealing with AI spam. Pinterest has worked to address concerns regarding the influx of AI generated posts, which some users say have absolutely flooded the feed. It’s the only platform thus far to add an AI off switch, of sorts, which gives users the option to limit the prevalence of AI-generated content.
Meanwhile, Reddit recently shared insights into its efforts to combat a rise in AI-generated comments and activity.
X also acknowledged its challenges in dealing with AI-generated content.
In March, Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, announced a change to the platform’s creator monetization incentives. The update was designed to address a sharp rise in AI-generated deepfakes related to the war in Iran.
Bier and X owner Elon Musk have both also talked about the rising impact of AI bots on social apps in general. Musk said in a March 2023 post on X that the development of AI has made it impossible to keep bot armies out of social apps, because it’s “trivial to spin up 100k human-like bots for less than a penny per account.”
Musk’s answer to this was to charge every user for access, with the assumption that even a small fee would be enough to restrict the creation of bot accounts at scale.
But not enough people showed an interest in paying for X. In fact, paid social options in general have never resonated with audiences.
On LinkedIn, AI countermeasures included reach penalties when AI spam is detected.
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Courtesy of Pinterest
Nonetheless, most social platforms are also heavily invested in AI projects. As such, they actually want users to integrate AI tools into their online experience, rather than switching them off.
Meta, for example, has invested hundreds of billions of dollars into AI development as part of its effort to become the global leader in AI technology.
But Meta users haven’t been especially enthusiastic about the AI tools Meta keeps pushing at them.
These days, Facebook and Instagram users are regularly being prompted to use Meta AI to ask questions, generate images of themselves and compose posts.
Yet when Instagram Chief Adam Mosseri recently announced that IG was integrating the company’s latest Muse Image generation tools into the app, replies to his post were almost universally negative.
Some of the comments included “AI slop,” “We need an option to turn off AI-generated content” and “Literally no one wants this.” These user responses reflect the rising backlash against AI tools, at least when it comes to recreational consumer use.
The response is no surprise because in many respects, AI tools are the antithesis of social media engagement.
Social media was built on the concept of connection, which, at least until now has meant human connection. Meanwhile, AI tools can only replicate that interaction via simulated personalities and replies, while AI-generated images and videos have begun replacing people’s real experiences, real artwork and real life events.
What’s the point of social apps, if none of what’s being posted is real and if they’re no longer a means to showcase personal experiences and create connections.
If the majority of what’s being shared online ends up being fake, then that erodes trust in the whole network, and weakens the key value proposition of social media until it vanishes.
Then social media becomes just entertainment, with platforms churning out an endless stream of videos from people no one knows, and replacing TV screens with smaller screens and shorter shows.
That does seem to be the trend. In that case, what even is a social media app in the AI era?
Are messaging apps now social media? Because that’s where people are engaging. For many users, that’s now the only place they’re engaging in real social interactions online.
But that also shrinks the value of social media as a medium, and moves it more towards a curated entertainment app that responds to user interests. And in that paradigm, AI-generated content probably won’t win out, because the sheer amount of AI content being posted means that quality will remain an issue. For every cool video of Harry Potter characters in modern styles, there will be thousands more forgettable junk depictions with legs in weird places, over-the-top facial expressions and misaligned lip syncs.
AI will get better, for sure, but there’s a reason the majority of successful AI videos use established IP. Because those original ideas still resonate more than what most people can come up with, and empowering more creativity could eventually lead to less user interest.
