It was believed that AI would take over our jobs, but it seems it’ll impact our leisure activities as well.
Meta is reportedly testing out AI comments on Instagram. The feature analyses a photo with AI, and suggests comments to the user based on the picture. The feature was first discovered by X user Jonah Manzano.
“Write with Meta AI,” the feature says. “Get suggested captions based on the photo you’re sharing. You can always edit the caption or try again,” it adds. “Meta AI can analyze photos, including facial features, to help you write,” Meta tells users.
Users opting into the trial see a magic pencil button next to their comment boxes. Clicking on it shows options of comments that can be sent. So if someone has shared a picture of themselves smiling in their living room, the options Meta AI throws up are “Cute living room setup <heart emoji>”, “love the cozy atmosphere”, and “great photoshoot location”. Clicking on any of these automatically posts this comment on the picture.
This isn’t the first time that Meta has tried out automatic comments. For a while, it has been helping people write birthday wishes. Clicking on a birthday reminder shows users automated generic messages they can send, such as “Happy birthday”, and “have a great year”. This new feature, clearly, goes a step further — it actually analyzes images and then suggests appropriate captions.
Meta has previously looked to integrate AI into its social media platforms. Last year, it had introduced some AI accounts on Instagram, which shared pictures and comments like humans. It has also been letting people create their AI chatbots, which seem like human accounts but are actually operated with AI.
It’s unclear how successful these initiatives could be. The reaction to the AI accounts had been rather negative, so Meta appears to have dropped that plan and these accounts seem to be no longer visible. Most users come to social media platforms to crave authentic content from fellow humans, and they might not find the same fulfilment or purpose in interacting with AI.
Meta, though, clearly has some data on how people are interacting with AI, and seems to persist in integrating it with social media platforms. This is quite a depressing thought — most people are resigned to the idea that AI will disrupt the employment market, and take away jobs. In the best case scenario, this will create lots of prosperity, and give humans untold amounts of leisure time. But if AI will end up taking over our leisure time and scroll social media and write comments for us, what purpose will humans serve anyway?