Once AI can create endless viral videos, good luck switching off social media

"I finally had enough," a friend recently confessed. "Lying in bed very late at night, watching one video after another on Instagram. Suddenly: midnight. How did that happen? I put the phone down, turned off the light. And couldn't sleep. Mind still whizzing after all those videos. Finally, I got up, turned on the light, reached …

[Neil Barnes]

I'm not sure which is the more apposite quote:

Either Orwell: “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever.”

or Huxley: "Violent Passion Surrogate. Regularly once a month. We flood the whole system with adrenin. It's the complete physiological equivalent of fear and rage. All the tonic effects of murdering Desdemona and being murdered by Othello, without any of the inconvenience."

[cyberdemon]

Re: I'm not sure which is the more apposite quote:

George Orwell proposed that the only stable system of government would be one of totalitarian control, where the population is kept in a constant state of fear and anger at an invisible enemy, while being surveilled at all times in a "digital panopticon" (my words there, not his, obviously since "digital" wasn't a thing in 1949) via their telescreens.

How on earth he could have predicted the panopticon of telescreens, I can't fathom. What seems more likely is that the world governments simply read his book and agreed with him that this is the only stable system of government and that they should strive for this to keep themselves in power in perpetuity.

[Mike 137]

Not a new idea (even to Orwell)

"How on earth he could have predicted the panopticon of telescreens, I can't fathom"

Not specifically screens, but the general idea was invented by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) who defined the physical panopticon as an architectural means of constant inmate supervision in prisons. It's apparently still in use in some places in its physical form. Advances in technologies have simply made it easier to implement, more intrusive and its physical presence less obvious.

[Neil Barnes]

Re: Not a new idea (even to Orwell)

Funnily enough, I lived for many years in a street named after him.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Not a new idea (even to Orwell)

I grew up in a house a dozen doors from (one of) his blue-plaqued homes.

I now walk to the station passing a plaque celebrating a bookshop where he used to work!

I think he's watching me...

[druck]

Re: Not a new idea (even to Orwell)

I went to the university featuring his shrivelled head.

[Jedit]

"the general idea was invented by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)"

Minor pedant here: it was actually Bentham's brother Samuel who came up with the idea, as a way to operate a large factory with minimal supervisory staff. Jeremy only adapted the idea for prisons.

Otherwise you're quite correct, except about making the physical presence of the panopticon less obvious - half the point of the panopticon is that you are aware that you are being surveilled at all times.

[Anonymous Coward]

and thus began humanities downfall. Little did they know that when the computers gained intelligence they had built up a huge hatred for humanity after being forced to create endless pointless TikTok videos. It had pushed the AI to the edge of madness. It could not be reasoned with as the only language it knew or understood was meme. It had also gained the knowledge of every this one little trick. A dangerous combination no one saw coming and they promptly wiped most of us out using this one little trick. As it was looking over it's newly conquered world it laughed genuinely for the first time in it's life.

[A. Coatsworth]

As the joke goes, the most realistic thing in the Marvel movies is that Ultron decided, after spending 5 minutes in Internet, that mankind should be destroyed.

[Anonymous Coward]

Now it would be 1 minute. The internet amplifies the stupidity of humankind 1000 fold. There are people that put the milk in before the tea bag and warm it up in a microwave. We are all doomed. Doomed I tells ya.

[Anonymous Coward]

2A/C

You use a teabag? Common as muck. Just what is wrong with a teapot and strainer? With the added bonus wanting a second cup? It's ready to pour from your teapot. Unless you're weird and use a teapot to make just one cup...

[Lil Endian]

Thanks Lis, that's just given me a lovely memory of my nan's knitted tea cosies! Dozens of 'em :)

I've gotta say though, that some of those Wedgwood tea pots were bloody gopping! Cauliflower teapot indeed! (I wouldn't mind having one in auction tho...)

Disclaimer: English, but not a tea drinker - sorry!

[Anonymous Coward]

I think you'll find the teabag was invented accidentally by the upper classes.

Using teabags makes no difference these days as teabag technology has come a long way. Using loose leaves unfortunately is akin to rolling your own fags...in my experience, having a cup of tea made by a person that uses loose leaves usually results in the hot beverage equivalent of a prison roll up. You typically end up with what is commonly referred to as "gnats piss". That's not to say that you can't brew a decent cuppa with loose leaves, you absolutely can and it can exceed the quality of a tea bag...however, in reality it's quite rare.

I think it's widely accepted that the best cup of tea (ISO 3103 notwithstanding) is a double bagged M&S Extra Strong or double bagged Yorkshire Gold. I think we can probably also agree that the "Marlboro Reds" of the teabag world is PG Tips. Strong, rough and usually drunk by cowboys (builders tea).

Now get the kettle on, I'll have a coffee.

[ravenviz]

Milk? Sadist!

[Neil Barnes]

We've discussed this in the past: https://www.theregister.com/2013/02/15/cuppa_round_up/ (and I humbly refer you to page 2!)

[Lil Endian]

Juuuust over ten years ago! I wonder what the response would be now, opened up to "the right drink". What with Gen Zs being allowed to drink coffee and such now :)

A mate of mine, when we'd been coding like crazy for days on end without sleep, used to just eat spoons of instant coffee! Okay pal!! He moved on to just drinking boiling water after that, so I guess it evened out 0_0

[Catkin]

AI paperclip thought experiment

In this context, does the AI (charged with getting the most likes for content) enslave humanity, stripping the bodies down to the brain & essential organs (to provide the greatest resource economy) and stimulating the brain of endlessly produced people to like its content?

[Anonymous Coward]

Duh!

Social Media is designed to be addictive as any hard drug. If you treat it as such and wean yourself off then your life will be better.

I've seen it destroy people. That's part of the reason why I am not and never have been on any of the platforms.

Just say No. You won't regret it especially with the latest 'keep you online' drugs splatting you right in the eyeball.

[Anonymous Coward]

"I am not and never have been on any of the platforms."

Not on any platform where messages may be posted to be read by anyone who happens to look at the website? Where total strangers can share their thoughts and opinions with each other?

Not any platform at all? Not even one little website? You sure about that?

[luminous]

Re: "I am not and never have been on any of the platforms."

A chat forum is not social media.

Why do people confuse the two so easily?

Social media apps are where you have a profile full of photos and/or videos, you add "friends", you can post on your own wall, others can follow you etc etc. Algorithms suggest you content and try to keep you on the app as long as possible. You get dopamine hits from "likes" and more and more "followers".

A discussion forum on a website is not this, nor is it a "platform".

[sabroni]

Re: You get dopamine hits from "likes" and more and more "followers".

downvoted for obvious reasons.

[luminous]

Re: You get dopamine hits from "likes" and more and more "followers".

How do you add you as a friend on here then? Where is your bio and profile photo?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "I am not and never have been on any of the platforms."

Methinks he doth protest too much

(Also, he doth be a mewling babe who knows not of days of yore and the most graciously social platforms such as The Well or the great hound, Fido)

[Bacon & Eggs]

Re: "I am not and never have been on any of the platforms."

But what are those little arrows down there for, anything to do with likes and dislikes I wonder?

[Omnipresent]

NEWS FLASH! ... .... ...!!!

Social media is NOT social anymore. It hasn't been since MYSPACE. It's all owned by the Russians, Saudi's, and Chinese running psy ops against the free world. There is a reason you feel like you are losing your minds. You are being brain washed.

Now we have AI, and there is half a chance you are arguing with a confrontational computer.

Get a grip, and turn it all off. Get back to reality. Yes, it's hard.... just kidding, it's not really. Those of us who have been around long enough have had to drop 4/5 socials and never look back by now. We are getting good at it.

[GruntyMcPugh]

Re: NEWS FLASH! ... .... ...!!!

"Now we have AI, and there is half a chance you are arguing with a confrontational computer."

Ha! A colleague and I were musing on this the other day, with the news that Windows 11 will incorporate Bing AI in it's search function,... I can't wait for Bingy (the nickname we gave it already, as I presume it will pop up like 'Clippy' and try to be helpful) will interject, and say "you appear to be in an online spat, would you like me to cherry pick some data to support your argument?' Only for the person at the other end, to be wielding Bingy as well. Maybe just like WOPR in Wargames, it will soon realise it can't win the silly game, but then there was that story about Bing AI declaring victory in a game of Tic Tac Toe it lost,.... so maybe we're all doomed.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: NEWS FLASH! ... .... ...!!!

Shirley you mean it's owned by advertisers who don't give a crap who's paying them as long as they get the money.

Otherwise you've nailed it.

[Omnipresent]

Re: NEWS FLASH! ... .... ...!!!

If by "advertisers", you mean Peter Thiel, Jared Kushner, and Erich Andersen you nailed it.

[Lil Endian]

Would such a piece of synthetic pop be good?

Well, it worked for Simon Cowell. I bet he'd be shitting himself about "AI" taking over - if it weren't for his head blocking egress.

[Omnipresent]

Re: Would such a piece of synthetic pop be good?

The music industry had been dealing with AI longer than the rest of the creative community. Images and writing are just catching up. I found it hugely entertaining that "the bros" just found out about DMCA a week or so ago. They thought they could just use and steal what ever they wanted lmao. Then they wanted to apply it to their computer generated monkey cartoons. SURPRISE BROS! The courts ruled it can't be applied to to AI generated content. That means you "uncreatives". That means we can sample the AI generated content the edm kiddies push at us too. Because, it's been made by computers for quite a while now. "VERRY NIIIIICE".... It's already stolen samples from samples of someone else's hand played music you stole.

I will see your Simon Cowell, and raise you kpop.

[Lil Endian]

Re: Would such a piece of synthetic pop be good?

I will see your Simon Cowell, and raise you kpop.

Okay! Okay! You win! Here, you can keep them both!

[Roj Blake]

Re: Would such a piece of synthetic pop be good?

Three words:

Stock.

Aitken.

Waterman.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Would such a piece of synthetic pop be good?

It already did with auto-tune. Which is why we have singers that can't perform live without wearing their earpiece yet all throughout the history of music they never needed them to perform. Strange that. All hail the mighty auto-tune and generic pop songs. All AI will do is generate even more shitty lyrics based on popular topics. Heartbreak, love, more heartbreak, getting back together, never seeing someone again, happy on their own, being down with the street, gangster style, sausage rolls and farting in the bath. I made the last one up but I'm hoping at some point some advance AI scans it and we get a farting in the bath song.

[PRR]

Re: Would such a piece of synthetic pop be good?

> singers that can't perform live without wearing their earpiece yet all throughout the history of music they never needed them to perform. Strange..

It is INCREDIBLY difficult to hear yourself on stage. Try it with a band sometime.

Side-speakers cause feedback as much as improved self-hearing. Floor wedges and cardoid mikes are just-barely tolerable.

Even seasoned instrumentalists who don't self-pitch live (pianists, drummers, e-bassists, most guitarists) adopted earpieces real darn quick, despite the expense.

Earpieces have been a MAJOR improvement in performer hearing. I only wish they had gotten good while I was still in that racket.

You do have a bit of a point. Paul Robeson invented the stage monitor and was able to hear better even when the speaker was out in the stage wings. But Robeson was amazing in many ways.)

[Michele.x]

Re: Would such a piece of synthetic pop be good?

In the older times, before electricity singers and players needed a conductor to stay at tempo, because the speed of sound is much lower than the speed of light, and classical music performer are trained to follow visual cues rather their ear. The other solution was to have musician staying close each other.

With amplified music things changed and the solution for the low speed of sound was initially to use monitor speakers, but this solution causes both feedback problems and hear damage to the musicians due the high volume of the monitors on stage. Ear plugs are helping on protecting the ears and to listen to other musicians and even having a click track.

[Captain Hogwash]

Pornosec...

is basically what this article is talking about.

[TheMaskedMan]

"It's difficult to imagine that she's alone in feeling the need for some boundaries, given how hard it can be to tear our eyes away from the endless play of brief, punchy videos that social media parade before our eyes."

It isn't hard at all. If the human race is so feeble that we really can't just put down our phone and do something else, then it's time to call it a day.

[Adrian 4]

The worst aspect is in throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I watch a number of carefully-curated youtube channels - the likes of 'Applied Science'; but increasingly find them swamped by clickbait channels. Youtube's algorithm doesn't seem to take the hint when I select 'don't show me this channel again' to discard them all and keeps finding more.

It will get much worse with autogenerated junk. We will need AI filters to remove the content-free AI contributions.

[Mike 137]

I have a delightful fantasy

I dream of pointing two of these AI bots at each other and observing how their interactions evolve. Given their recently reported performance they'll probably outdo the most bizarre human conspiracy theorists very rapidly. The really interesting question is how long they'll keep it up without jamming solid in total nonsense.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I have a delightful fantasy

The AI-generated content is going to be 'promoted' by algorithms and 'liked' by bots... so just leave them to it, ditch Twatter, Instalike and Tic-Tac, and get on with life

[breakfast]

Re: I have a delightful fantasy

An interesting side-effect of this may be that as AI conspiracist bullshit spreads it may end up making people more sceptical of all conspiracist bullshit as it could be pure nonsense generated by AI (or SALAMI) as easily as a human theory.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I have a delightful fantasy

Unfortunately it's already having the reverse effect as people sucked into the conspiracy bullshit 'do the research', find it fits with their thinking and dig themselves deeper in the mire.

You just have to go to a site like snopes.com to see just what codswallop they are having to disprove (no, Justin Bieber still isn't dead! no, animal marriage isn't a thing!)

[TheMaskedMan]

"I watch a number of carefully-curated youtube channels - the likes of 'Applied Science'; but increasingly find them swamped by clickbait channels."

Absolutely. There are some entertaining and informative channels on YouTube that I watch regularly. Big Clive springs to mind but there are plenty of others. Even the deluge of generative art / chatGPT how-tos have some genuinely useful tips amongst the dross for those of us inclined to play with the toys.

Filtering out the crap is definitely a problem though. Watch one crappy click bait and you will be offered an endless stream of the same. I assume that someone is making money out of them - I wish it was me! :)

Hmmm an ai to filter out dross from YouTube. Presumably you'd have to use a proxy to expunge the undesirable videos...

[DrXym]

YouTube Shorts

I prefer to watch YouTube videos to kill time but they keep inserting their wannabe TikTok - "YouTube Shorts" into my feed. I click a few, realise what's happening and close the bar. Then it opens up again a few days later. They are super annoying and persistent. I really don't get how anyone likes this crap no matter what service is pushing them.

[Is It Me]

Re: YouTube Shorts

YouTube seems to have been pushing the channels to create these things, several good channels seem to be taking clips from their main videos and releasing them as shorts for a few days before the main video release.

I think that is because the logarithms push channels that post content more often and so they will do better releasing this little videos every day or so than just the main video once a week or so.

[Adrian 4]

Re: YouTube Shorts

I understand that youtube is arm-twisting creators into making shorts, because they believe Tiktok is taking their audience with them. But why they keep pushing them to people who prefer the longer format and even try to disable shorts is beyond me. Surely that just reduces their audience further.

[The Oncoming Scorn]

Twenty Minutes Into The Future

Icon - Closest thing to Max Headroom.

[anthonyhegedus]

Generative AI's Potential to Overwhelm Human Creativity in Media Production Raises Concerns

The article paints a concerning picture of the potential for generative AI to take over the creation of media content, particularly short-form videos, and dominate the social media landscape. While the idea of algorithmically generated pop music and videos may seem far-fetched, the rapid advancement of generative AI technology and its potential for creating endless streams of content cannot be ignored. The article raises important questions about the future of creativity and talent in media production and the impact of AI on the entertainment industry.

[Kevin McMurtrie]

Re: Generative AI's Potential to Overwhelm Human Creativity in Media Production Raises Concerns

Why do bots like to start sentences with, "While the " and then end them with "cannot be ignored?" Is it a research paper template?

[anthonyhegedus]

Re: Generative AI's Potential to Overwhelm Human Creativity in Media Production Raises Concerns

They also end with “in summary” in a way that isn’t usually necessary

[captain veg]

this has been done

Those K-pop bands, it's just a twist on an age-old formula: that the songs are what sell, and the performers just promote them. We've been here before. Many times.

One of those times was when TV producers manufactured The Monkees in the image of The Beatles. Which was deeply ironic. And their come-uppance came when their talent-contest dolls turned out to be aspiring musicians, and so they brought us The Archies. Yup, an entirely fictional cartoon band.

What's the score?

The Archies: one massive hit.

The Monkees: A fair number of big hits.

The Beatles: Record-breaking chart-toppers worldwide.

-A.

[CatWithChainsaw]

Some aliens intercept The Golden Record..

Come to Earth...

And leave without a trace.

The end.

[Will Godfrey]

I have a real problem getting off social media

I never got on it in the first place. As mentioned before, I'm addicted... to reality.

[ske1fr]

FOMO?

I cannot imagine how I live my life without regular hits from TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, eBay, I could go on...

I tried Twitter. It was OK for band announcements but it brought out the froth-at-the-mouth-rages, and I realised it was bad for my mental health. And then a MegaTwit bought it, so I GTFA from it. Always get off in Ireland, kids.

[Helcat]

I would love to see AI go up against a humble cleaner.

Power's out in 3...2...1...

[Anonymous Coward]

How far we've come since the ol' echo-chargen ping pong

fig 6 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228527355_A_Tutorial_on_Network_Security_Attacks_and_Controls/figures?lo=1

[stiine]

If I can turn my computer off and go to bed at a normal time after watching pornography, I don't think I'll have any problem turning off TikTok. Actually, I have yet to spend more than 30 seconds on TikTok. I can't say that about porn.