When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Heres how it works.
Yesterday morning, I logged into Facebook and saw an image of the Colosseum turned into a water park.
On LinkedIn, everyone was busy transforming their headshots into Studio Ghibli characters, courtesy ofChatGPTs latest update.
Threads showed me a video reimagining the cast ofSeverancecrawling around Lumon as babies.
Its not just me, right?
Social media has become a swirling mess of synthetic content.
Weve written aboutthe rise of AI slopbefore part cringe-inducing art gallery, part uncanny valley fever dream.
But I keep thinking: has AI officially ruined social media?
Your gran (who probably doesnt even realize what shes reposting).
And brands that absolutely should know better.
To make sense of the mess, I spoke toJoe Goulcher, a creative director and social media expert.
He works with brands on this stuff daily and has a front-row seat to the AI slop flood.
This is the lowest-effort tier.
Bland visuals slapped onto posts just to have something there.
Placeholder content that somehow became the content.
This ones the most insidious.
Its not trying to be good, its trying to be just bad enough to go viral.
The look what I made!
They say things like look what I did in ten mins!!
It usually goes down like a sack of bricks.
This is the hype-fuelled, tech-bro theatre of generative content.
The tone is always breathless, and the results are always underwhelming.
Yes, some brands are doing it well, with thought, care, and actual artistry.
And usually buried under a steaming pile of junk.
People, brands, entire businesses are churning it out.
This speaks to a deeper issue in tech.
Just look atApples recent AI missteps.
Despite all the hype, AI isnt delivering the magic it was sold on.
Its not revolutionizing much of anything.
In fact, in most applications, its starting to look like a very expensive gimmick.
Even though brands whacked a logo on them, it didn’t make it ethically good in any way.
They were just trying to ride the waves of legality and dosh until legislation kicked in far too late.
Like crypto or NFTs, we see theres innovation, hype, overuse, and then fatigue.
I think we can apply the same tech hype graph to AI content, Goulcher says.
There’s always something in my gut thats like, this bubble will burst.
And I still think that will happen.
When AI data sets start eating themselves, and the innovative wow factor wears off whats left?
AI didnt start the rot, things were already slipping.
But this latest wave of generative content has pushed it straight into uncanny, derivative, brain-melting chaos.
But that reaction misses the bigger, scarier picture.
Because AI can fuel misinformation at scale.
And these arent just fringe trolls theyre coordinated campaigns, designed to manipulate public opinion.
Thats just one example.
Yes, it’s the kind of content that has always existed online.
Only now, the rules have changed.
You dont need skills.
You dont need a team.
You dont even need a budget.
Just a narrative and a willingness to abandon reality.
And on social media, the rest takes care of itself.
Thats the real horror story.
