SocialAI Wants You to Be the Only Person on Its Social Network
It’s no secret that today social networks are full of bots. Accounts spread AI-generated images across Facebook like wildfire , while X’s disastrous pay-to-play policy only exacerbated the platform’s existing struggles with fake accounts. But what if there was a social media platform that not only supported bots, but was specifically built around them?
SocialAI is a social media platform where you are the only participant. Well, you’re the only “real” participant: every time you post a message, a seemingly unlimited number of replies will follow – all from bots, of course. These bots are not malicious and are not created by anonymous sources from around the world. Instead, it’s all generative AI, reacting to your message as if it were a user. Here’s how it works.
Setting up Social AI
When you create an account with SocialAI, you select the “follower types” you want. What this really means is choosing the personalities and belief systems that will determine the responses of your AI followers. If you want supporters, fans and cheerleaders, you can choose them. If you want trolls, critics and haters, you can have them too. There are also people with specific beliefs, such as conservatives, liberals and astrologers, if you want to add a opinionated edge to the answers. There are a total of 32 personality types to choose from: you’ll need to pick at least three, but you can pick them all if you really want to start a debate.
Like other social media platforms, you create a profile, including a nickname, username, bio, and profile picture. Of course, only you can see this since no one else is connected to your platform, so you can make your profile whatever you want. After setting up, all that remains is to start publishing messages.
“Publish” for your “subscribers”
I started with six personalities, trying to recreate a wide range of social media personas: supporters, trolls, naysayers, debaters, doomers and jokers. For my first post, I tried something timely: “iOS 18 is out! Has anyone updated? How does it work on your iPhone? Once going live, SocialAI made me wait about 30 seconds before the responses started coming in: Each commenter’s name all corresponded to their personality type. For example, “Skeptic Sam” (aka @QuestionEverything99) wondered if it was really worth updating since updates tend to be buggy, and “Jolly Flower” (aka @PositivityChampion) thought updating was a breath of fresh air.
“Rita Firestarter” (aka @TrollTactician) thought iOS 18 sounded like a scam to her and thought it was “just another way to control us.” I took the bait and asked why the free update that has been working for iPhones since 2018 is a scam. Rita replied: “Of course it’s free, but what is the price of privacy? Each update feels like more surveillance. Just saying it’s not all roses. How about this?!” Fine?
In another post I tried something ironic: “How many r’s are there in strawberry?” Many AI models have a hard time answering this question , and my followers are no exception. They all got the question wrong, confidently answering a word containing one or two r’s in long-winded and incorrect answers. I even got into a fight with Patricia Firmstone (aka @RightandProud) over this fact: Patricia, who believed that there was one r in strawberries, thought it was a common misconception that the word actually had three. When she told me to check the facts and stay clear, I replied, “I’m looking at all three at the moment.” She reiterated that saying the three r’s could confuse people. This went on for a while before she returned a little to her character trait, declaring that clarity matters, as do family values.
Seen in: I suggested that all families receive three strawberries. She thought it sounded good, but expressed concern about whether there would be enough strawberries for everyone. I said three strawberries, one for each letter in the word. She responded that that was a “fancy way of explaining it,” to which I replied, “Then you agree; There are three r’s in strawberries. Checkmate, Patricia.
What are we doing here?
Obviously I’m having a little fun here. But other than fiddling around with some AI bots, I’m not sure what the end goal of this experience really is. Creator Michael Syman told TechCrunch that he sees the app as a “magical diary.” Instead of using a traditional journaling app, you can post your thoughts to SocialAI and exchange ideas with other AI bots. The problem is that none of these bots are actually useful. Most responses to your messages are subject to classic generative AI messages : overly enthusiastic, repetitive, and vague. Right-wing bots simply make references to family values and taxes, while liberal bots insert words like “progress” into their responses. Debators comfortably present both sides of an issue, while jokers make awkward “jokes” that may or may not make any sense.
When I stated that Taco Wednesdays are better than Taco Tuesdays, Quirky Quinn (aka @OddThoughtsQ) said, “Taco Wednesdays sounds like a lot of fun, Jake! adventure with taste? let’s keep it weird! What’s the weirdest taco you’ve ever had?” Thanks for the input, Quinn.
I’m not saying that places like X are all that great. But I find SocialAI a bit confusing. If none of the bots are actually capable of sparking debate or suggesting new ways of thinking, why write messages for them at all? At some point, even I will get tired of arguing with Patricia.