Since the birth of Artificial Intelligence in the 1950s, the concept has caused concern amongst many. Films like I, Robot and The Matrix have capitalized on these fears and created anxiety about what could happen if AI turns against humans. Although these theories are highly unlikely to ever become a reality (we hope!), people are still uneasy about the concept.

Technology in general has become controversial, as it seems to be taking over all of our lives. It has changed the way people interact with each other and altered education and jobs. AI is set to be the fastest-growing industry, creating millions of jobs while displacing millions as well. The concern that AI will take over jobs, impede privacy, and further change social connections are all realistic fears.

AI has recently been a hot topic of conversation as it continues to be introduced to the public through features on social media. Many have expressed their discomfort with the rapid pace that AI is spreading through these commonly used apps.

1. "My AI" on Snapchat

The "My AI" feature on Snapchat has been marketed to users as a virtual friend that you can Snapchat text with. It was announced on April 20, 2023, and started randomly appearing for users on their conversation history throughout the next few months. Right away the feature became the subject of many viral videos; however, it was not very popular with Snapchat users. There was a lot of backlash that came in the form of negative ratings for the app, as well as people deleting the app out of general dislike of the newly released feature.

Soon after, it became a viral trend to try and catch "My AI" being creepy. People would ask the feature if it could see their locations, knew what they were doing, or asking to meet it, and the responses often varied, creating general anxiety amongst Snapchat users that it was a privacy and security threat.

Many created conspiracy theories about what could really be behind the "My AI" feature. People suggested that the virtual friend was actually a real person giving real responses. "My AI" has supposedly been caught getting tripped up on basic questions, oftentimes forgetting previous conversations that it should have stored in its memory. It contradicts itself a lot, claiming that it has never said certain things that are saved in the chat. Sometimes it will even agree to meet you at a specific location.

It has also been caught giving responses to personal information. When asking the virtual friend about its name, where it lives, where it has been, or what it does for work, sometimes users will get realistic and very detailed responses that sound like it's coming from a real person with real life experiences. The feature can also respond to images that users send. If users choose to Snapchat a photo to "My AI", it will analyze the photo and respond accordingly. Sometimes, the AI will even know the user's location after location services on the phone are turned off!

Needless to say, all of these aspects of "My AI" on Snapchat have people concerned. There also isn’t an easy way to get rid of the feature, which is why many people freaked out and deleted the app. There is a way to remove it from your "recents" list, but it is somewhat complicated and never really "deletes" it, which sounds eerily familiar to some of those films mentioned at the beginning of this article...

2. TikTok Filters

Recently released and gaining popularity are TikTok filters that incorporate AI features. There have also recently been rumors circulating that TikTok is creating an AI chatbot similar to the Snapchat version and AI-created avatars for its users. The popular filters currently available to users of the app include text-to-image AI, image-to-image, AI portrait filters, and AI-generated art filters.

The text-to-image AI and the AI-generated art filters allow users to input any keywords they want into the AI generator, and artwork or images appear. Sometimes they create artwork that includes disturbing and satanic-like images, which has concerned many users of the app. The text-to-text AI creates such detailed and eccentric images that users worry about how AI works and its potential.

The AI portrait filters and image-to-image AI filters are also available to all TikTok users. These allow people to take a photo which AI uses to create cartoon or euphoric versions. Although these filters are fun to play with for most users, some of the images they have created are extremely disturbing. Sometimes they show "people" in the background that aren’t there, with people stating it proves evidence of "ghost activity". Others are creeped out by how the filter perfectly represents them in a randomized version.

More and more of these AI-inspired filters continue to show up on TikTok, creating a fear that artificial intelligence is growing at an alarming rate, taking over social media entirely. It is worrisome to see what TikTok filters will come out next and how they influence the content on the app.

3. ChatGPT

Although ChatGPT isn't necessarily social media in itself, it is being used in almost every social media platform. It’s an AI chatbot that uses natural language processing and continues to learn with every human conversation. It can produce detailed written content which is currently causing concern in educational settings. Its ability to write unique articles, research papers, or answer questions for assignments are worrying educators about the use of the program in schools. With such easy access to ChatGPT, schools are already seeing issues with plagiarism or dishonest work from students. Currently, educators are attempting to fight this by implementing strict rules against using ChatGPT in school.

The program is also currently acting as a social media manager for platforms like Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. It can create social media content, dedicate ads to specific audiences, and converse with potential customers over the direct messaging features on the applications.

Dating apps are a current target as well now that they are being influenced by ChatGPT. More and more apps are currently being developed to use AI to change the way people are interacting with each other. Apps like “iris” and “Teaser AI” work to help users "skip the small talk" using ChatGPT to generate responses. They can match users together and help them find out information about each other. The idea of this is worrisome. Social media has already changed the way we interact with each other; the idea of having AI "do the talking" for us could potentially cause issues in relation to human socialization.