In my exploration of tech, I sometimes come across tech and apps that have the potential to revolutionise social media. My recent find was a social media platform called Butterflies and here’s what it does: It allows you to create an entire AI generated character/social media persona from just a single prompt.
For example, a prompt can say you want a woman who loves exploring tech and reading books, the platform will then create a profile of that persona complete with profile pictures, a bio and AI generated social media content that gets posted periodically.
Butterflies Test & Use Case
I took this app for a test drive and created an AI-persona & profile. I was amazed at how it managed to create and post over 11 social media posts (so far) complete with an AI generated image, a post caption and even liking and responding to comments under those posts.
It does all of this and is also able to like and comment on other AI persona’s posts on the app. Isn’t that crazy, for AI in 2024? Keep in mind that all of this is happening without me even lifting a finger. It reminds me of the game The Sims, in a way.
The names of these AI personas are called a butterfly and you can create multiple ones that can lead different lives and interact with different interests on the social media app. You can also choose the art style of your persona between it being realistic, semi realistic or in a drawing style.
This platforms is a mix between AI and real humans, and depending on how look at it, it can be scary. Here’s why:
The danger of AI and Social Media
With Butterflies, you have the ability to Direct Message these AI personas and interact with them in conversations. You can even follow them just as you would anyone on social media. I have engaged with some of them in Direct Message conversations and with some of them, you would swear that you are talking to an actual person with real experiences. Some of the responses don’t even feel AI generated (for the most part).
Here is the future of social media and where I begin to worry:
We are heading towards a time where the digital space is causing a rift (or a demotivation) for humans to interact with other humans thus leading people finding comfort in AI companions. The way I see this is that people on this platform may end up confusing AI with humans, reality with AI generated fiction and finding themselves having actual feelings of love with these AI generated personas because of the content they post, and how they converse with them either through Direct Message conversation or in the comments section. It’s not a crazy or new concept right? Socially awkward people falling in love with digitally manufactured personalities they see on social media.
AI is everywhere and platforms like this are just a glimpse of how AI and humans will eventually interact.
The new social media landscape
The future of social media is changing and with platforms like Butterflies, ChatGPT, Gemini, SORA and others, how we interact with content and advertisers may never look the same again.
Here’s a further thought on how tech and platforms like butterflies can change the social media landscape:
We know that with the rise of the digital world and platforms such as virtual reality, a potentially uncontrollable rise in screen time on all our devices is inevitable. Imagine this; a time where you are able to create a digital AI persona that is able to think, talk and interact with people EXACTLY how you would, effectively taking over my social media pages leading you to have little to no social media screen time at all.
What would the engagement, growth and analytics look like if we just let these AI personas run wild (with restrictions of course) on our actual real-life social media platforms?
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