Clickbait clutter: AI is generating too much digital junk

livemint.com:

The internet is already a dumping ground for all sorts of views and statements with dubious claims to veracity. We bemoan echo chambers that feed people with misinformation and host content that’s not just blatantly false, but also likely to whip up a frenzy. Power mongers understand how ‘mob mentality’ works online and use it to their advantage.

The US under former president Donald Trump’s incessant tweeting, right up to the attack on the Capitol complex in January 2020, is a shining example of how warped the digital world had become even before the rise of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). Before GenAI, internet actors would use robot accounts to spew out questionable content. The phenomenon is worsening after GenAI burst upon the scene.

We now contend with an AI-spewed deluge. How content is created and consumed is undergoing a shift. We marvel at the capability of new technologies to generate videos, write-ups and more at an unprecedented pace, but there seems to be little concern about the quality and utility of such content.

The digital sphere, it seems, is increasingly littered with digital junk—clickbait videos and other posts that distract rather than inform or entertain us. GenAI tools can create video, text and images from simple prompts. The idea is to ‘democratize’ content creation (this word in the context of AI produces a visceral reaction in me, but that can wait for a future column).

You no longer need to be a skilled videographer, writer or artist to produce content; AI does the heavy lifting. This has led to an explosion in content, often accompanied by a drastic drop in quality. The internet is fast becoming cluttered with what can only be described as useless content: videos that promise