Artificial Intelligence? More like Artificial Incompetence…
Opinions from a Strategic Communications Major
By: Tarryn Weigand
As we sat down for our typical Monday morning internship meeting, my head quickly turned at the most recent social media updates.
The current cause of concern ➡️ the casual and obsessive use of Artificial Intelligence.
To many Strat Com/advertising/graphic design/marketing/content creating/digital analytics students — the thought of constantly changing social features is both an enduring challenge and a worrisome concern.
The unknown is different each day, and as technology evolves so does social media.
In many aspects, AI has grown to be a very well-used resource among all age groups, but especially those from 18–30, aka the largest market for social media applications.
AI generated media, communication, and content in particular has been on an exponential uprise.
My thoughts
In my opinion, the more technology innovates and advances, the worse the implications will become.
There is already evidence of Chat GPT, the most popular AI search bot, destroying the environment due to the necessary and excessive amount of power used to back that advance of technology.
Not only environmental concerns, but also the psychological implications of AI bots and Chat GPT will have a fatalistic impact on the quality of education for all future generations.
A Look at the Past
In the olden days (30 years ago), students had a harder time with information collection. Students had to go in-person to a library and look it up there.
By the time I came along — I had full access to the Internet- aka anything and everything at the touch of my fingertips.
In school, we were taught to not believe each and every post we saw online. Rather —to make sure resources were from credible and reliable sources.
With the increase of access to the Internet and artificial intelligence programs, I fear it will be easier for new generations to bypass age limits and there will soon be little to no restrictions within this sector.
My worry is for young students — especially elementary and middle school aged, who may be given unlimited Internet access, including sites such as Chat GPT.
The capabilities of Chat GPT alone are endless: the answer to any specific exam question, an entire 5 page essay written and cited, a lengthy conversation between a human and a nonexistent being on the other side of the screen.
I predict these AI technologies will have a terrible impact on the quality of education, especially for younger students and will encourage students to take the short way by “using their resources.”
In addition to the worrisome future of education, the psychological effects proceed well past that age range. One of the most recent experiments in AI generation is within Instagram comments, and even entirely AI generated profiles.
Instagram’s technology now provides a list of AI generated recommended comments for you to make on a post under the comment section.
This reminds me of one of my favorite memes, that everyone in society is just “sheep” due to us all having the same mindset without attempting to rebel against norms.
To me, this is a perfect example of Meta (the overarching company behind Instagram, Facebook, Threads, WhatsApp) telling us what to think and post, encouraging users to engage even if we can’t think of anything special enough to comment on our own.
Most shockingly, was the news that Meta will continue to integrate AI bot profiles into its apps, posing as real users with profile pictures, bios, and the ability to generate content and hold full conversations on their own.
Not only do we have to worry about people pretending to be someone else, but now we quite literally have to worry if the users we are connecting and communicating with are ROBOTS.
As someone who would like to go into social media and content creation, this topic is very concerning, but also fascinating due to its unfolding nature.
Here are my concerns with AI profiles posing as real people:
1. For content creation the difference in influencers versus normal accounts will be blurred.
If I am able to post about my new Starbucks drink and immediately have 20 bot profiles engaging with my content, I am going to believe I am gaining profile interest.
I will continue to put out content, generate engagement, put out content, generate engagement, and the cycle will repeat itself as many times as there are users posting content.
The cycle will also repeat until the user actually gains real user interest or brand interest from Starbucks themselves, basically giving everyone the free chance to become an influencer, possibly even profiting off of it.
2. People will genuinely start to hold “real” conversations with these profiles, which are also customizable to the user experience.
Soon users will be able to hear a voice from their bot, and of course they will be able to choose the pitch and accent. These bots can be found in an “AI Studio” which will sort them by topics and interests, so essentially your pet robot will be customized and given a personality before your completely unnatural yet strangely empathetic conversation!
I can see this going wrong for a few reasons, especially considering the already impending doom of the AI generated celebrity art, replicating certain people or even impersonating someone (also an already existing issue within social media platforms anyway).
Final Thoughts
The direction AI is going currently is worrisome, possibly even dangerous, yet I can’t help but be curious about the future of artificial content generation and its uncertain implications.
Part of me is torn between being disgusted by these large companies as they inevitably drive us to isolation by replacing our real followers with robots, but part of me is paradoxically intrigued by how the general public will react.
One of the reasons why I love being in the Marketing and Advertising is the ability to create meaningful connections between users through content.
It scares me that one day that could be a wasteful skill in a world that doesn’t value human connection anymore.
