AI has taken what algorithms have done to the Internet and 10x’d it. What algorithms did by creating clickbait, listicles, repurposed text and dismal editing, AI is now doing with news, video, audio, music and all other content.
I see it clearly when watching videos on YouTube and Reddit. People are using AI to copy trending video clips, retitling them, adding voice over or captioning and then promoting them as if they were original content (without crediting the sources, of course).
It’s straight-up copywriter and content theft.
Even worse, it’s bad repurposing. The “story lines” are clearly not true. The videos reuse the same tired music clips, headlines and “plots” to capture eyeballs and watch time.
It is exactly what algorithms have been doing for years.
The AI videos remind me of soft porn movies that used to play on late night Cinemax. The acting was terrible. The plot lines were predictable, ridiculous and completely unrealistic. The sex scenes were the same, but worse, if that’s even possible. Porn has been on my “Don’t Watch” list for decades.
And now, thanks to AI, I’ve added YouTube shorts, YouTube Trending Videos and Reddit videos to this list to.
I was lucky to be part of the Internet world since the early days of AOL and Compuserve in the mid 1990s. The Internet has been one of the most rewarding technologies of my lifetime. I built my career around it. It was integral to my career success. It enhanced and enriched my personal life.
It’s a bummer to watch it disintegrate into an online version of the Idiocracy as a result of social media, algorithms and AI.
It was better, once and could still be.
So what am I going to do about it?
I am focused on what’s within my circle of control. I’ve opted out of social media, skipped TIkTok altogether, avoided Twitter and will be avoiding crappy AI content.
I write this blog. My ideas are my own. I don’t use SEO, click bait or marketing to drive visitors to my site. I’m not trying to make money from it. I write for different reasons.
I’m under no illusion that I’ll make the Internet into what it once was. But I do what I can to make my own little corner of it something better.