I had no idea what a sorority rush was. Now that I know, I don't care. The fact that many do care
is fascinating.
I find what Olivia did is actually amusing. She created a character that frankly fooled children about what children do and the Daily Mail that is written by adolescnets for the adolescent mind was fooled by it.
How are you able to differentiate which is a bot and which is not? Users can have a real account and use AI to respond or make a well-written comment from an idea...it's just to difficult.
I don't know! I have my suspicions about a few...but none confirmed. I would imagine programmatically commenting as a bot on TikToks would be somewhat difficult to build
In longer videos, you're able to 'detect' if it's AI or not. Like in this case, in the 1-minute video with its 'AI look', but on shorter videos with HD or 4k quality, it is too difficult - if you're not using expressions as the main focus of the video...
Yes, it was basically a barbell - many people who pretty quickly spotted her, and then some people who had to be convinced (or didn't care if she was!) I suspect a lot of the last group had some lingering misgivings ("something doesn't look quite right") but gave her the benefit of the doubt
This post really highlights one of the core reasons there's so much backlash on AI: it's trust. When someone lets you believe something is real, or goes further and actively hides the fact that something is AI, many people feel lied to when they learn the truth.
I think we'll see it used this way from now on, but much like artificial food, it will be the mark of something that's low quality, much like junk food. It will be accepted, much like junk food and fast food is today, but somewhat looked down upon and seen as unhealthy. We'll also see niches that use it ironically, in the same way that hipsters were fans of Pabst Blue Ribbon, though it was objectively a cheap, low quality product.
I think you can have things made with AI that have no thought or care behind them, and you can have things made without AI where the same labels might apply :)
One of the problems (IMO) is that most of the "AI content" people are able to detect now is on the low effort end of the spectrum. I've seen people make art with AI that is incredibly time consuming and thoughtful
A society that heavily consumes this kind of trash isn’t doomed. It will be handicapped and fall behind. It doesn’t matter how high the quality is. Real or AI, this is junkfood for your brain. It‘s a shame this is what we’re using a particularly ecologically unfriendly technology for. Yeah, yeah, I know - it’s a free country, money will be made, and the mob will cheer. Maybe we are doomed.
Once detection becomes impossible, "was AI involved?" stops being a useful signal and provenance becomes the actual product: a signed print vs. a poster.
"I don’t think we’re doomed - but we are about to be outnumbered. The cost curve on frontier intelligence is only going down. “Supply” of this kind of content is about to explode"
----
This is what so many refuse to accept or are incapable of understanding.
Like electronics in general, compute will keep getting less expensive and be able to do far more at a lower cost that human workers simply will not be able to compete with.
I had no idea what a sorority rush was. Now that I know, I don't care. The fact that many do care
is fascinating.
I find what Olivia did is actually amusing. She created a character that frankly fooled children about what children do and the Daily Mail that is written by adolescnets for the adolescent mind was fooled by it.
That's pretty funny.
Maybe you covered this, but how many of the commenters were AI too?
How are you able to differentiate which is a bot and which is not? Users can have a real account and use AI to respond or make a well-written comment from an idea...it's just to difficult.
I don't know! I have my suspicions about a few...but none confirmed. I would imagine programmatically commenting as a bot on TikToks would be somewhat difficult to build
This is FASCINATING! Would love to interview you for my next essay on the increasingly blurred line of AI-human enmeshment!
How could people not tell that was AI, that is so obviously AI
I suspect there are those that are very susceptible to thinking AI is real, then there’s a whole huge other group who sees it instantly and bails
In longer videos, you're able to 'detect' if it's AI or not. Like in this case, in the 1-minute video with its 'AI look', but on shorter videos with HD or 4k quality, it is too difficult - if you're not using expressions as the main focus of the video...
Yes, it was basically a barbell - many people who pretty quickly spotted her, and then some people who had to be convinced (or didn't care if she was!) I suspect a lot of the last group had some lingering misgivings ("something doesn't look quite right") but gave her the benefit of the doubt
This post really highlights one of the core reasons there's so much backlash on AI: it's trust. When someone lets you believe something is real, or goes further and actively hides the fact that something is AI, many people feel lied to when they learn the truth.
I think we'll see it used this way from now on, but much like artificial food, it will be the mark of something that's low quality, much like junk food. It will be accepted, much like junk food and fast food is today, but somewhat looked down upon and seen as unhealthy. We'll also see niches that use it ironically, in the same way that hipsters were fans of Pabst Blue Ribbon, though it was objectively a cheap, low quality product.
I think you can have things made with AI that have no thought or care behind them, and you can have things made without AI where the same labels might apply :)
One of the problems (IMO) is that most of the "AI content" people are able to detect now is on the low effort end of the spectrum. I've seen people make art with AI that is incredibly time consuming and thoughtful
I am seeing 20% of my reels are from AI avatar, its hard to recognise these, they are so real these days and most are indian girls!
This is what thirty minutes a day and $100 in credits buys you in 2026.
A society that heavily consumes this kind of trash isn’t doomed. It will be handicapped and fall behind. It doesn’t matter how high the quality is. Real or AI, this is junkfood for your brain. It‘s a shame this is what we’re using a particularly ecologically unfriendly technology for. Yeah, yeah, I know - it’s a free country, money will be made, and the mob will cheer. Maybe we are doomed.
Once detection becomes impossible, "was AI involved?" stops being a useful signal and provenance becomes the actual product: a signed print vs. a poster.
Curious to know what your budget for this project was?
Great post Olivia...it blows my mind what we're able to do in 2026 and how people believe these characters (they look super realistic).
¿What about a marketplace for selling AI characters for brands? Jummm...
"I don’t think we’re doomed - but we are about to be outnumbered. The cost curve on frontier intelligence is only going down. “Supply” of this kind of content is about to explode"
----
This is what so many refuse to accept or are incapable of understanding.
Like electronics in general, compute will keep getting less expensive and be able to do far more at a lower cost that human workers simply will not be able to compete with.
Very interesting to see western culture which thankfully hasn't come to the East, yet.
If you created the influencer, isn’t the influencer ultimately you?