Sep 24, 2026 · 35 min
Listen from 32:35
Listen at 32:35
AI Makes Social Media Cheap—and Authenticity Scarce
AI Is Upending the Lives of People Who Do Social Media Professionally
As generative tools lower the cost of producing posts, creators and marketers must compete on judgment, trust, recognizable formats, and relationships.
- 1AI can accelerate marketing work while weakening creative judgment and morale when employers impose it indiscriminately.
- 2Authentic creators and recurring formats may gain value as generic content becomes cheaper and audiences tolerate more AI-generated entertainment.
- 3Chatbots, ambient devices, and private communities could challenge scrolling feeds, but may not solve social media’s underlying isolation.
Don't miss
The clearest strategic advice is that creators should build recurring formats and recognizable shows rather than rely on generic lifestyle posting.
The brief
At a live Los Angeles recording, Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal ask Taylor Lorenz and Rachel Kaplan what generative AI changes for creators, marketers, and social platforms.
The guests argue that AI can help visualize ideas, edit images, and support SEO, but forced adoption may erode creative judgment and morale inside marketing teams.
Audiences may accept low-stakes AI entertainment, yet branded work faces a different test: visible effort can signal product quality, while personal perspective remains harder to automate.
As production gets cheaper, established creators may become more valuable for their relationships and recognizable formats; recurring shows and serialized content can outperform generic lifestyle posting.
The panel considers whether chatbots, ambient devices, and private communities will displace scrolling feeds, while warning that many alternatives could remain socially isolating.
What was said on this episode
40 statements · 13 positive · 20 negative · 2 mixed · 5 neutral
Marketing bosses are outsourcing creative judgment to AI and requiring teams to use it.
“their boss is asking them to use AI and their boss is using AI themselves and they're outsourcing all of their gut instincts to AI”
Listen at 6:38
AI implementation on marketing teams lacks consistent structure and guardrails.
“the way that AI is being implemented is sort of a free for all”
Listen at 7:32
Consumers use a brand’s social-media effort as a signal of product effort.
“the effort that they put into their social media is a reflection of the effort that they are putting into their product”
Listen at 8:35
AI-generated brand imagery may lead consumers to suspect other operational shortcuts.
“it might make you ask, you know, if your favorite Chipotle, whatever, your favorite fast food chain is using AI generated imagery, what other shortcuts might they be taking in their process?”
Listen at 8:58
People sometimes enjoy AI-generated content, including when they know it is AI-made.
“people actually do enjoy AI generated content”
Listen at 9:13
Consumers tolerate low-effort AI memes but care about creative effort from companies they buy from.
“they don't care about the craft of a meme, but they care about the craft of a company that they purchase from”
Listen at 10:23
AI will replace some how-to creators as an authority for practical instructions.
“AI is a better authority. Then people will turn to AI for how to fix your dishwasher.”
Listen at 11:38
How-to creators will struggle as audiences turn to AI for practical guidance.
“So I think those creators are going to struggle.”
Listen at 11:45
Public online controversy will shift to a new issue by 2028.
“by 2028, we will have something new to get mad about”
Listen at 16:24
AI is unlikely to kill humanity.
“I don't think it's going to kill us, by the way. We're going to be fine.”
Listen at 16:47
AI systems are computer programs rather than human or living beings.
“they're not humans. And we are talking about computer programs.”
Listen at 17:35
AI systems should not be treated as truly living beings in policy debates.
“it's really important to recognize that these are not like truly living beings”
Listen at 17:43
AI mockups can help agencies visualize ideas before producing them in reality.
“I have been interested by using AI to mock something up to then be able to make it in the real world and have like a human impact on it.”
Listen at 19:02
Marketers are generally not succeeding with AI-generated captions or post ideas.
“I don't hear that a lot of marketers are having success having it generate captions or post ideas.”
Listen at 19:13
Rachel Kaplan does not recommend using AI to generate captions or post ideas.
“it's not really a strategy that I personally recommend either”
Listen at 19:22
Taylor Lorenz mainly uses AI as an assistive tool rather than a writing replacement.
“I use it mostly, kind of like what Rachel was saying, as like an assistive tool.”
Listen at 19:32
Taylor Lorenz considers AI poor at writing.
“I don't think it's a good writing.”
Listen at 19:35
Current AI tools cannot adequately edit a podcast.
“It cannot even edit a podcast.”
Listen at 19:54
People wanting to leave technology poses a greater concern than chatbot use.
“I'm more concerned about people... wanting to log off.”
Listen at 21:05
The current smartphone form factor will decline soon.
“this form factor of this type of phone is gonna die quite soon”
Listen at 22:02
People are spending progressively less time looking directly at screens.
“we're spending less and less time actually looking at a screen”
Listen at 22:12
Future technology interaction will become more ambient and less screen-based.
“in the future, we're going to interact much more ambiently”
Listen at 22:15
Wearables will reduce the need to use phones for everyday tasks.
“there's less and less reasons to be on our phone as we have wearables”
Listen at 22:57
Google is better positioned than Meta for the AI-era social-media environment.
“Google's better positioned than meta. Meta's in a really hard place right now”
Listen at 24:49
Meta’s influence has peaked and will not match its 2010s level.
“I don't see Meta like having the same level of influences. I think it kind of peaked in the 2010s.”
Listen at 25:06
AI accounts can publish roughly 50 posts per day, increasing content scale.
“AI accounts. I'll go to look at an AI account that can post, you know, 50 times a day.”
Listen at 25:25
AI-generated deceptive content may benefit platforms short term but produce harmful long-term results.
“I think that's really bad to essentially monetize confusion. And I think that's a short term benefit with really bad long term results.”
Listen at 26:05
Users will retreat toward simpler, less overwhelming chat interfaces.
“people are going to retreat towards these more. these chat interfaces that are simpler and not so overwhelming”
Listen at 26:17
Threads is currently the most toxic major social-media platform.
“Threads is the most toxic social media platform.”
Listen at 26:59
Threads’ algorithm prioritizes replies, fueling rapid groupthink pile-ons.
“the algorithm works, it really prioritizes replies”
Listen at 27:06
Threads’ AI-generated news summaries produce false information.
“Threads does the AI generated news summaries, but it's just lying.”
Listen at 27:37
Fast-growing accounts currently use familiar recurring formats across their content.
“the accounts that I see that are growing right now, all their content has a real like through line of familiarity”
Listen at 28:10
Gil Holy Cooks reportedly reached about 500,000 followers within two or three months.
“I believe he's grown to like 500,000 followers in maybe two or three months”
Listen at 28:23
Lifestyle-sharing content is declining in appeal and audiences increasingly disregard it.
“the era of like sharing your life is like very declining. Nobody cares.”
Listen at 28:44
Creators should avoid pursuing generic lifestyle-influencer strategies in 2026.
“don't try to be a lifestyle influencer in 2026”
Listen at 28:49
CAA is actively developing an AI vault for celebrity voices and likenesses.
“CAA has, like, really leaned into this. They have what's called the CAA Vault”
Listen at 29:12
AI lets celebrities record once and have content adapted for different audiences.
“the influencer or the star celebrity will show up for, like, one day, but then they'll use it to, like, tweak the takes or, you know, tailor it for different audiences”
Listen at 29:21
Celebrity AI voice and likeness licensing will likely become the industry direction.
“I do think that that is probably the way that... that it's going to go.”
Listen at 29:28
Instagram carousels and reels primarily reach non-followers and new audiences.
“carousels and reels are for reaching a new audience. Those will go out to non-followers.”
Listen at 30:06
Instagram single-image posts serve existing audiences, while stories and DMs foster community.
“Single image posts just are for your audience. And then stories and DMs they see as where community happens.”
Listen at 30:22
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.