Erik Hoel notes that big tech corporations have recently been doing quite a few things that can be described as “pretty evil” without hyperbole:
What’s weird is how open all the proposed evil is. Like bragging-about-it-in-press-releases levels of open.
A few examples suffice, such as the news this month (reported in Harper’s) that Spotify has been using a web of shadowy production companies to generate many of its own tracks; likely, it’s implied, with AI. Spotify’s rip-offs are made with profiles that look real but are boosted onto playlists to divert listeners away from the actual musicians that make up their platform.
Meanwhile, child entertainment channels like CoComelon are fine-tuning their attention-stealing abilities on toddlers to absurdly villainous degrees.
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More recently, it was revealed that Netflix will be purposefully dumbing down its shows so people can follow along without paying attention.
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So the kids’ shows are slop, and now adult shows will be slop too as characters narrate their own actions and repeat everything twice to make up for lapses in attention as people scroll on their phones.
And then, right on the heels of this, it turned out Meta has been filling up Facebook and Instagram with bots on purpose, like this new AI “Momma of 2,” in order to flatter us with fake attention.
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To provide context for the criticisms of these moves here: I’m not normally someone who gets mad at companies for just existing. I don’t hate commerce.