One constant in our ongoing civilization is a continuous branching of complexity. Assuming civ continues, how does your entertainment become more tailored to you as you imagine it?
Decades ago I wanted a game where a world building economy game, industry and domestic simulators, real time war strategy, and a first person shooter that bridges to an adventure/explorer were all combined into one. This is a game where all of these roles could be filled by autonomous AI characters, but where recruiting and filling roles creates dynamic complexity that is advantageous for all. Each layer of gameplay dictates the constraints of the next while interactions across layers are entertaining and engaging for all.
It does not need to be gaming. What can you imagine for entertainment with tailored complexity?
I can’t wait for AI to generate enjoyable music.
I don’t listen to music anymore because it’s impossible to discuss with people without sludging through toxicity, gatekeeping and hostility. Most channels are filled with stuff I don’t like. Advertisements shriek in my ears after every song. It’s awful.
Someday I’d like to just hear music that I like without all the bullshit.
It’s only 12 notes, but everything I’ve seen from AI so far is super formulaic. It would be nice to see layer complexity but I think that kind of creativity will be hard for AI. I put together a couple of 2 hour playlists to listen to while doing my physical therapy routines. That is basically all the streaming services do anyways–play a 2 hour loop of the same things all the time with little to no variation. They make the list just a little longer than most people’s awareness and shuffle a few tracks here and there. I don’t care about content as much as just some thrash metal with a pace close to my pedal cadence, so the same thing playing on repeat is fine. With Graphene OS and VLC I never have any issues with ad trolls. I’m totally disenfranchised from that whole exploitive nonsense. It sucks for new artists and discovery, but I do not care. It is the music industry and copyright law that is flawed. Music should be totally free for all listeners on a platform that is artist funded like it costs a few bucks to store and add music for people to potentially listen to. Then use that platform to sell your wares or touring ticket sales passively on the side. Licensing content by plays is deeply flawed and copyright is in this light is untenable and wrong. Yeah your songs might be used in areas you do not agree with or like. The artist is welcome to use the opportunity as a platform to voice their views, but music shared with the public belongs to the public commons once it is shared. The public commons is not a place to tax for revenue. Develop a following and build from there.
- pick your own youtube channel followings
- subscribe to streaming services that specifically have the franchises and series you actually like unless you are bigger on new content in which case its probably a good idea to subscribe to"them all"
- subscribe to your own podcasts or serials you’d like to either keep up with or have available to listen to at any opportune time you want to be entertained passively or actively engage with to grow from
This is coming from the self-curated/eclectic/autodidact perspective lol. Very omnivorous
Good pornography (I am a woman and it’s slim pickings), and lots of more in depth reporting like NPR sometimes does - the sort of articles that are so satisfying to read, they feel like eating a good meal.
I don’t think it would be created by AI, but do think AI would be helpful for finding it.
We will get whatever companies and algorithms push at us, just like social media. The idea that media is tailored to us is a bit of a myth in my opinion when that tailoring can be overridden at the whim of an advertiser paying more than the competition.
I’m also not sure that tailoring things is really good for personal growth. Of course we all have tastes and prefer certain genres in terms of things like games, books, movies, music etc but having just tailored content seems like a bit of a dead end street where its more and more difficult to find experiences you’ve never even considered, let alone tried.
I’m looking for a bigger picture perspective, like a few centuries from now when there are space colonies and far more humans exist than the present.
I understand how disconnected this can seem in the present, but there are thresholds in the future that will disconnect the present struggles and constraints. In a world of hundreds of billions of people, viability changes, and so does the niche market.
In the present, it is possible to fully control all aspects of entertainment and media. It is not the easiest path, but I do it. No one forces any media on me, and I never watch a commercial for anything, but I also sit behind and maintain a whitelist firewall and will not use any website or service that obfuscates their web credentials or relies on JavaScript.
Ultimately, in the big picture, you put up with the nonsense and that determines the behaviors of the market.
That’s how I predict the next generation of social media will be. Completely AI-generated. Your feed, every single post you see, every comment, every like, everything. Imagine, no human moderator ever needed because they can generate content compliant with every single governance body in the world and advertiser-friendly. Post/comment you posted will be seen by no one, but LLM will comment on it and agree with you, giving you fake internet points.
Worst of all? The vast majority of people are going to love it. Do you remember when GenAI first came out and people hated it? Now fully AI-generated channels/content creators are everywhere people shared the hell out of it.
We are not far from there tbh, just need more desensitization about GenAI tech in the population.
I think you will find that the easiest media to access will always be the dumbest. The trick is when to decide that you’re done being the smartest person in the room and go find other rooms.
I see people complaining about this quite often, but I do not experience it. I never watch AI stuff other people are producing, but I do not participate in other social media platforms. I use all of the FOSS tools and platforms that result in no ads or content forced upon me. I watch several people on YT regularly, but I have all the tools in place to prevent ads, and of the people I watch, all have academic credentials and a reputation.
I think generative AI has a bright future, but not in some negative vane. It will supplement as a tool, not replace people or other content. All tools can be abused and many are abusing AI. There problem here is a culture of no ethics and acceptance of abuse. If you’re unwilling to stop watching or using a platform, then you have proven that these techniques are viable and profitable. Your willingness to walk away is the determining factor. Over time, culture will evolve to walk away from and seek out content that fits the individual instead of self suppression to fit what is easily available.
