It’s like we’re a riddle, wrapped in an enigma, wrapped in a whole-wheat, gluten-free burrito up against some meatless substance. It looks like something we should recognize but it’s a weak, new-age imitation of our reality that smells a little more than a little funky.
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One day, I think AI is going to take over the world. The next day, sometimes the next minute, I think AI is a coke-addled comic on SNL in 1975… not nearly ready for prime-time play.
Either I’m schizophrenic or the changing media world is incongruous. Notwithstanding loads of data to support the former, I'm going to go with the latter.
I am, now, on record (granted it’s a 7-inch 45 of the Smiths’ This Charming Man, not a meaningful double record album, like, say, Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life) as saying AI will take over media. And, it will be served up al dente with a side of vocals.
At the same time, a friend chatted with a bot on Character AI for a bit about local coffee shops near where he lives. “It was making up places and addresses left and right. Pretty funny. I gave it a lot of rope to try and make it admit it was ‘lying’ but it ended up getting mad at me for saying that the coffee shop does not exist. It even sent me fake Wikipedia links.”
Can something so stupid take over the media world? And, am I stupid for even thinking it can? Yes. And, yes.
We’re smart enough to recognize how lame AI is. And, we forgot just how lame Yahoo was when it was our Guide to the WWW. How lame AOL was telling us we’ve got mail after spending minutes hearing screeches to get online. How lame Facebook was when it was a dating message board in Havard dorms.
This had me stymied for some time. Until I read this blog post about SNL and the Incongruity Theory that powers comedy. Take Side-show Bob from the Simpsons. Bob is a megalomaniac and a criminal mastermind. Yet, he’s being foiled by a series of rakes in this clip (a must watch). Repeatedly.
AI is just finding its feet. And, while I’m not an AI hypester, I do believe people will find ways to use this new technology to power things we do care about.
NBC marketed the first SNL as, “It’s live so anything can happen.” Except nothing went wrong. AI is in that phase of life. It’s AI so anything can happen. And, with AI it always does. The current output is laugh-worthy. By accident. But, the early leaders are not pretending to be today’s Google or Facebook. They’re trying to appeal to this generation’s early adopters. The people who do do stuff (if you know me IRL, you know I’m laughing at “do do stuff.”) now that can be done with AI. So they can grow up to be tomorrow’s Google and Facebook.
Character is not trying to have deep, witty conversations with people who write papers titled, “Political commitment in twentieth century literature.” Nah. They’re looking for much lower hanging fruit. The kind of people whose idea of fun is the banality found in Snap messages about brain rot borrowed largely from TikTok. If you’re wondering who would be part of that audience, go back a ‘graph and re-read my do-do comment.
Unlike me, some people and most platforms grow up. Facebook is a place where Florida’s Bay County’s Sheriff’s Office posts important warnings about riptides that drowned five tourists in four days.
We’re in the early innings of AI-powered media. If they’re smart enough, the platforms that collect the audiences will create features, improve the tech, find ways to monetize AI, and do all the things that everyone else will be chasing.
Don’t worry, like SNL, some of the stars of today that appeal to young audiences will grow into prime-time players. We’ll see them in their own shows and movies. And, we’re going to hear tomorrow’s Chris Rock call out the “f- - - ing a- -holes” at the Academy for not nominating Adam Sandler for an Oscar, and think, “Yeah. He’s a talented serious actor. That’s not an all incongruous with the guy who sang The Chanukah Song (which was never a 45).”