A phone screen displaying several social media apps. Photo by Kyle Ivacic.
The internet and social media have changed the world since the advent of websites like Facebook, Instagram and the long-gone Myspace. The era of social media has allowed for people to communicate across vast distances and maintain friendships in a way that was not possible just 20 years ago.
We are connected to the world – and the lives of our friends and acquaintances – like never before with algorithms that feed us status updates, friends’ vacation photos, ads and 24/7 news streams. Social media has become even more powerful with the recent additions of chatbots and algorithms that are powered by artificial intelligence.
According to a Forbes article published in March:
“AI tools help enhance features of social media platforms,” by way of “text and visual content creation, social media monitoring, ad management, influencer research, brand awareness campaigns and more.”
According to Forbes, AI models have “the potential to create engaging content across categories.” These categories include more than just chatbots. AI generated art and AI algorithms are used by companies to boost engagement.
AI tools are being quickly developed and released across social media platforms.
Snapchat released an AI chatbot called “My AI” earlier this year. According to Snapchat, My AI is a chatbot that runs on “OpenAI’s GPT technology,” the same technology that runs the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT. The company says that the GPT technology used in the chatbot has been customized specifically for Snapchat.
Users can give the bot its own name and can use it to perform a variety of text-based tasks such as conversing about the day or creating simple recipes.
In Snapchat’s press release regarding My AI, the company warned that “As with all AI-powered chatbots, My AI is prone to hallucination and can be tricked into saying just about anything.”
In September, Facebook parent company Meta announced a slew of new AI tools for Instagram – which already uses an “automated AI recommendation engine,” according to The Verge.
According to Meta, these tools include AI-powered digital stickers, AI image editing that lets users restyle photos or change “the scene or background of your image,” a new Siri-like assistant called Meta AI and a set of 28 AI-powered celebrity chatbots with “unique backstories.”
According to Meta, they “partnered with cultural icons and influencers to play and embody” some of their AI chatbots, while others are fictional characters created by Meta. Each bot has its own profile on Instagram and Facebook – allowing users to get to know them and understand the communication style of each.
The likenesses of several celebrities have been digitally cast to act as the embodiment of several of these bots. Charli D’Amelio, Kendall Jenner, Tom Brady, Paris Hilton and several others have contracted with Meta’s AI program.
AI is not only limited to the user experience, as many social media companies also use it in the marketing realm.
According to Reuters, social media giants have experienced a “rebound” in ad revenue that can be attributed to “the growing adoption of artificial intelligence.”
Algorithmic tactics are used when determining who should be the face of a marketing campaign.
According to Forbes, “AI can drive in-depth insights about influencers, predict how well an influencer will align with the brand’s goals … and help brands select the relevant media influencers by comparing data.” These AI can also be used to select “the most effective content for each campaign."
Forbes reports that social media ad management is also largely AI-based. “AI-powered tools can help analyze hundreds or thousands of ad [targets] and budget variations, find and segment audiences, make [ads] creative, test ads and improve speed and performance.”
According to Forbes, AI can do a plethora of other tasks in the sphere of social media such as detecting logos and keywords or providing “insights about brand mentions” and helping creators know what types of content will gain the most attention.
The combination of artificial intelligence and social media does have risks and can propagate biases. According to the Pulitzer Center, there is evidence that “AI tags photos of women in everyday situations as sexually suggestive” much more often than it does it for men. This has helped in “amplifying societal disparities” on social media and the internet at large, according to the center.
A study by the Guardian concluded that “The problem seems to be that these AI-algorithms have built-in gender bias, rating women more racy than images containing men.” ”
Meta came under fire in 2021 when a leak revealed that the company was aware that its algorithms make “body image issues worse for teenage girls” according to The Guardian. Concerns like these and about children’s general safety online have only grown with the advancement of artificial intelligence.
Qualms aside, tech companies and media giants are going full steam ahead on AI development. With these advancements, artificial intelligence is becoming even more integrated with the internet and everyday life.
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