Meta got roasted like a coffee bean on Friday – reminding us of ‘Titanic steel’ and how authenticity and integrity are everyone’s problem in 2025. But never mind that now.
Three days into 2025 and things suck. Internationally, neverending war and nationally, home-grown terror. Locally, Eugene’s new year madness includes police brutality and vehicular manslaughter, the impending doom of HN51, and several new short stories on the production board. The beauty of our burgeoning future against the exigency of our existence. Soft rains, or soul-sucking exsiccation, or both?
I don’t know the answer. What I do know is that Meta’s 2023 AI profiles are an indication of brittleness within the superstructure of this massive organization. Human connection needs to the integrity of authenticity, and Meta seems to have decided to abandon that cause. Here’s what I’m talking about:
What are these? Why, they’re AI profiles. Unreal people, pretending to be real, for the purpose of interacting with real people. Why? It’s ‘a chance to make its apps more engaging.’ Uh, good for Meta, I guess?
They’ve long since deleted the profiles but the damage is done. ‘Meta says it will continue to push AI generated content on all of its platforms … Instagram users reported that they were not able to block, restrict or report the AI characters that Meta created.’
So, What?
First off, what is social media for? Is social media for the authenticity and integrity of human connection? That’s what it was supposed to be for right? Get us all together in a virtual room and talking – along the way monetize connection by analyzing behavior and offering products, right?
That’s what I thought it was for, anyway. That’s why I’m on social media vs standing on W 11th Ave & Oak Patch with a sandwich board that says ‘I tell stories.’ Connecting with people cannot be faked – that’s why I’m out here doing it very day. I trade on the integrity of my authenticity.
The Facts About Fake
I’d be very upset to learn that the ‘people’ I connect with are fake. Why does Meta think authenticity and integrity of connection can be faked? Why do they think we’re okay with it? The introduction of AI profiles and AI content mean that Meta no longer thinks we’re here to be connected – we’re here to be ‘paid attention to.’ It seems Meta thinks we’re only here for the dopamine hit of ‘attention.’
Um, ‘kay … that’s not what I’m here for. If I’m being honest, that was never the mission to begin with. The purpose of ‘social media’ is TO BE SOCIAL. This is a mechanism of human connection – full stop. Social media fulfills our fundamental need to feel connected, authentic, and accomplished. Social media works on autonomy, competence, and relatedness fuel motivation. We can’t fake that connection – communication without connection is fatal. The best things in life resist automation. Like trust. Like love. Like culture.
I’m saying all this to say, Meta’s premise that AI profiles will ‘increase engagement’ is flawed. Human connection and meaning only happen with humans in the room. To suggest otherwise is an assumption built out of arrogance. If you think interacting with AI characters is ‘just fine,’ strap yourself into a chair to only interact with your created AI profiles forever. Sound like fun? I didn’t think so – why would you do it to someone else? Now let’s talk about Titanic steel.
It Didn’t Bend, It Shattered
Did you know that Titanic was built using brittle steel? I read about it years ago. Titanic might have been built with the best-available steel at the time, but it was very brittle by modern standards. I’m not a metallurgist, but the Journal of Metals in 1997 pointed out that ‘the metal was much more brittle than modern steel but the best available at the time … Impact tests conducted by Felkins show that the steel from the Titanic was about 10 times more brittle than modern steel when tested at freezing temperature — the estimated temperature of the water at the time the Titanic struck the iceberg.’
The sinking of the Titanic was a cascade event – a disaster of several bad ideas going wrong all at once. Ductility of steel was unknown around 1912, “but most engineers … just had a ‘feel’ for avoiding undue stress.” The ability of the steel to fracture instead of bend was one of the reasons 1500 people died in the frigid waters of the Atlantic on April 15, 1912.
Meta and Metal
Like the D. Colville & Company in in Scotland that forged the steel that built the Titanic, Meta is working with assumptions. “We’re only here for ‘attention'” is one assumption. ‘The authenticity and integrity of human connection can be faked through AI,’ is a second assumption. A third assumption is that people will tolerate putting their basic human needs behind a paywall. I suspect there is more brittleness in these assumptions than we know.
Meta AI tinkering with integrity and authenticity – it’s going to be painful for them, but instructive for all of us. If you’re unable to figure out how to create organic connection on your platform, that’s a sign you should be figuring out how to create organic connection on your platform. “If you piss in the soup for long enough, eventually it stops tasing like soup.”
You can’t fake the authenticity and integrity of actual human connection. Meta seems determined to go broke trying to prove you can fake authentic human connection. Okay, good for you, I guess. White Star Lines survived the sinking of Titanic – we’ll see if Meta survives this.
