Isolating for the Future.

I’ve come across an interesting statistic from more than one source recently. It’s said that 51% of YouTube content globally is now the work of AI masquerading as human YouTubers, and it's rising. And they’re not only creating the content; they’re even generating comments, usually either as effusive praise or as something contentious which will provoke an argument. Apparently, it’s all to do with keeping viewers on the channel longer so as to attract more time for the advertising to take effect. That way the platform can charge more.

And the same is also happening on social media, both in terms of content and comment. This is particularly ironic because social media is now being seen as the phenomenon which began the process of eroding actual human connection from the human experience in the first place, and now AI is taking it to a higher level.

Further, what about the retail experience? We’re seeing the near-death of the high streets and the predominance of online shopping. Quite apart from the general inadequacies of online shopping – which are many and most regrettable – AI is also getting in on the act there. Some retailers are now using it to generate fake positive reviews to persuade shoppers to buy from them.

And here’s the greater point: It’s always been normal for older generations to take a reactionary view of changes to new ways. Things were never as good as they were 'when I was a kid'. But this time it’s different because taking face-to-face human interaction out of the human experience is in a wholly different league from having electric cars instead of petrol-driven ones. This time we’re right.

So who’s really behind all this, apart from the obvious ne’er-do-wells running the giant tech companies? Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?