So much AI ‘innovations’ are just solutions looking for problems
I hate it when management comes asking something like, "how are we planning to use AI?" instead of "what tools would help you be more productive?" The first puts me on the defensive, and my answer is "we're already using various forms of AI, from machine learning to features our tools have," and that isn't a productive conversation. The second question is more useful, since I'll mention things the asker could actually help with, like feedback from other parts of the company, more budget to hire and promote, etc.
AI might be the right solution, and it might not, but you won't get that answer if you ask the wrong question.
This is happening to a friend of mine that works at a mobile app company. Being very general so it doesn't get back to her but:
They're pushing an AI tool that does parts of her job with the idea that it is something that anyone at the company can access and use. Of course, what that's going to do is give everyone extra work because they'll be expected to use this tool in addition to their usual responsibilities. And it will add to my friend's workload as well becaue she will now need to manage and review everything that everyone else generates before it can go into production.
So yeah same thing, they asked how they can use AI, instead of asking themselves what can streamline the workflows.
The only AI I kinda like on TT are the ones that write jokes, then run a video prompt to speak the parts. Are they good at being comedians? Yes. Are they video artists? No. Do I like seeing Gary the stormtrooper get constantly harassed? Yes.
Why? Is it just to fuck up the planet with all the energy waste? What would be a logical explanation for this?
Defrauding investors.
In 2024, in the eyes of Microsoft, they saw a demand for A.I. (from who or where, is another rabbit hole). And Microsoft bought a 20 year nuclear power contract. So 20-30 years from today that spent nuclear fuel is fuck that humans will have for infinity; instead of 100% of that nuclear power to have used for any other purpose (cities, battery charging, hospitals, food production, etc)... absolutely anything other than A.I.
Yup, so your answer is in the bottom of that rabbit hole, and it isn't a logical one.
AI-only TikTok clone
so tiktok basically
great!
Well, they clearly have too much money and have lost the thread. I can't imagine why I would watch such a thing.
I'm going to bet it's to provide training data more than anything.
You should not train on AI generated content.
Also, I expect older generations to fall for this.
Not exactly what I had in mind. I was thinking they could use engagement as feedback to the AI so that it starts producing more engagement-bait type content.
But who would engage? Hopefully not normal people.
actually state of the art models do this all of the time, for example model distillation
Well, they clearly have too much money
They may have a lot of money, but they definitely don't have anything close to a reasonable return on investment. I believe the total revenues from "AI services" are sub $50 billion per year compared to at least x20 times capex and likely a very high amount of opex (hundreds of billion) per year.
Agreed. I would imagine they are looking for new revenue streams because it feels like just running an LLM costs more than the derived value. Right now investors are pouring money into AI by the swimming pool full in the belief that a renaissance is right around the corner. But the view from the ground is that the value is never going to return that investment without getting creative.
And when companies get creative rather than rely on fundamentals that drive sustainable growth, it's generally a steep slope to enshittification.
The app can generate copyrighted content
How are they allowed to do this?
it can ensure the content never leaves the app
Really? Isn't is pretty much standard for social media dwellers to screen cap everything they see?
They ensure content never leaves by having it be so low quality that nobody will want to take it away.
The app can generate copyrighted content
How are they allowed to do this?
They can't, based on their premise.
Either they actually can't copyright it because it's AI generated and only human output can be copyrighted, or they're actually using humans to generate the content, which kinda torpedoes the AI only aspect.
Genuinely who thought AI would be good for creativity? Isn’t the whole idea of AI supposed to be for productivity and sciences?
What the fuck timeline am I living in?
There's a documentary that explains our timeline very well, it's called "Idiocracy".
AI slope + Brain rot. I worry about our generation.
Eh, tiktok was already brain rot.
Not sure it really makes any difference.
And I mean this seriously. People staring at their phones to watch little snippets of shit and endlessly scrolling for more is not healthy.
I am not sure there really is a distinction between "real' or not real to the end viewers brain.
Slippery slop
Meta just launched a similar AI only short video app, Vibes https://about.fb.com/news/2025/09/introducing-vibes-ai-videos/. The bots are gonna have fun and VC is gonna lose a lot of money. I'll all for it.
Facebook is already doing this with Vibes
Maybe this will make ai art "creators" move to other platforms and leave people who don't like AI alone
Sure, throw more shit at the wall, maybe this will stick. I doubt it, though.
Then they have to do it right, everything is fake and all interactions are used to generate new content. Human comments are never shown just used as input.
If this takes off we are so cooked. I'm going to give up and go live in the woods.
Slop-Tok
A machine to create slop to feed slop
What does „AI only“ know this context even mean? Only AI content?
Yes and also only AI watching it. Then AI will make statistics on it for advertiser AI to pay them per view.
Wrong com c/theonion
Does anyone have an archive link for the original Wired article?
Trying do a URL lookup at archive.fo. For Wired there is very likely an archived copy.
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
