Soulless Social
The initial promise of artificial intelligence (AI) was to create machines capable of replicating and even surpassing human intelligence, fundamentally changing productivity, creativity, and how society solves complex problems (The National CIO Review). While that still holds true today, there is growing concern that AI could exacerbate many of social platforms' existing problems, leading to greater consumer hostility toward AI.
Meta and OpenAI have both recently launched TikTok-like feeds of AI-generated content that have glimmers of creativity and imagination; however—at the risk of sounding like a Luddite—they lack soul. These platforms are leaning into the next generation of the attention economy, and the mind-bending, addictive, and infinite nature of short-form AI-generated content is likely to capture attention. But, it is unlikely that this is a productive future for society, mental health, and where people should ideally be spending their finite and valuable time.
This is a clear next step in social media and will most likely be extremely lucrative to both OpenAI and Meta. The core issue (which we will go deeper into) is that social media has already been proven to exacerbate mental health issues, lower critical thinking skills, and increase loneliness. These effects will only be proliferated and extended by AI creation tools.
In September 2025, Meta announced Vibes, a new way to discover and create short-form AI videos.
“Vibes is designed to make it easier to find creative inspiration and experiment with Meta AI’s media tools. As you browse, you’ll see a range of AI-generated videos from creators and communities. The feed will become more personalized over time, and if something catches your eye, you can create your own video, remix what you see, and share it with friends and followers.”
OpenAI also released its new consumer app at the end of September, Sora, which distinguishes itself from Vibes mainly through one key feature: the ability to give universal permission for other users to use your likeness.
“With cameos, you are in control of your likeness end-to-end with Sora. Only you decide who can use your cameo, and you can revoke access or remove any video that includes it at any time. Videos containing cameos of you, including drafts created by other people, are viewable by you at any time.
There are a lot of safety topics we’ve tackled with this app—consent around use of likeness, provenance, preventing the generation of harmful content, and much more. See our Sora 2 Safety doc for more details.”
At their core, these apps focus on attention and on creating nearly infinite content customized for the end user.
While there are valuable opportunities in this space (Blake Robbins of Hidden Capital makes some compelling arguments for Sora), we do believe there are clear downsides to opening AI’s Pandora's Box within today’s current attention economy. In short, consumers do not need more reasons to scroll, but social media platforms make money when people do exactly that.
Business Models: Social media business models are built around advertising, and the expectation is that the more time people spend, the more advertising revenue is generated. By creating more content than is humanly possible without AI, we will literally have an endless supply of content (human capabilities do not limit creation).
Short-form content: With the rise of TikTok and Instagram Reels, consumers have become accustomed to paying attention to one thing for increasingly shorter periods, which means platforms must offer a lot of individual pieces for them to consume. Running out of relevant content (never happens these days) leads to shorter sessions, less time on the platform, and fewer opportunities to serve ads.
Personalized Algorithms: Content delivery is not random; it is based on end-user interests, which can be inferred from who they follow, the types of content they consume, and even the content their friends consume. Personalized content leads to more engaging content for individual users. Social media platforms have honed in their hyper-personalized content algorithms to an incredible science over the past two decades.
AI-generated feeds like Meta’s Vibes and OpenAI’s Sora will undoubtedly reshape how people engage with online content, and with that, also bring serious risks for the future. Today, Vibes and Sora are not generating personalized content with your preferences in mind; instead, they enable real users to leverage generative tools to create their own content.
But we can imagine a near future where these platforms churn out endless, personalized short videos that drown out authentic human creativity. Instead of bringing people together or sparking fresh ideas amongst humans, feeds packed with soulless AI clips might leave us more isolated and less connected to the cultural moments and communities that make society feel vibrant. This is not necessarily different from what social media has already become, but a move towards AI-generated content will only make this worse and more disconnected.
These platforms, built to maximize time and attention, will keep cranking out addictive AI content that is designed to hook people for longer, potentially at the cost of mental health (which has already taken a hit). Side effects include more digital burnout, shorter attention spans, and a wave of privacy concerns as AI makes it easier to remix, impersonate, or spread misleading videos.
Even with features like cameo controls in Sora, the ease of distributing deepfakes or misleading AI-generated media could worsen misinformation, erode trust, and create legal and ethical dilemmas that lag behind our technological capabilities to combat them. This is already happening, and we have all done a double-take on a video to realize it is AI-generated. This will get harder to do with each passing month.
Beyond just how we spend our free time, this battle for attention could continue seeping into schools, work, and public life. If surface-level consumption keeps replacing deep thinking, people will increasingly trade long-term, effortful, and delayed satisfaction for dopamine-driven instant gratification. In the long run, there is a real danger that the values shaping online life (e.g., how news is shaped and distributed, how our communities are perceived, and the blurred line of trust) push aside what benefits society.
Takeaway: AI-powered content feeds like Meta’s Vibes and OpenAI’s Sora are changing the way people discover and share creativity online, opening up new creative tools and opportunities for personal expression. At the same time, it is no longer enough to watch these changes happen. We need to confront, question, and challenge how they are reshaping engagement itself and dictating which interactions survive. Those who fail to study how these technologies evolve will be blind to both their disruption and the consequences that come as they dominate everyday life across almost every facet of society.
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