AI-Powered Social Media App Hopes To Build More Purposeful Lives (msn.com) 32
A founder of Twitter and a founder of Pinterest are now working on
"social media for people who hate social media," writes a Washington Post columnist.
"When I heard that this platform would harness AI to help us live more meaningful lives, I wanted to know more..." Their bid for redemption is West Co. — the Workshop for Emotional and Spiritual Technology Corporation — and the platform they're testing is called Tangle, a "purpose discovery tool" that uses AI to help users define their life purposes, then encourages them to set intentions toward achieving those purposes, reminds them periodically and builds a community of supporters to encourage steps toward meeting those intentions. "A lot of people, myself included, have been on autopilot," Stone said. "If all goes well, we'll introduce a lot of people to the concept of turning off autopilot."
But will all go well? The entrepreneurs have been at it for two years, and they've scrapped three iterations before even testing them. They still don't have a revenue model. "This is a really hard thing to do," Stone admitted. "If we were a traditional start-up, we would have probably been folded by now." But the two men, with a combined net worth of at least hundreds of millions, and possibly billions, had the luxury of self-funding for a year, and now they have $29 million in seed funding led by Spark Capital...
[T]he project revolves around training existing AI models in "what good intentions and helpful purposes look like," explained Long Cheng, the founding designer. When you join Tangle, which is invitation-only until this spring at the earliest, the AI peruses your calendar, examines your photos, asks you questions and then produces "threads," or categories that define your life purpose. You're free to accept, reject or change the suggestions. It then encourages you to make "intentions" toward achieving your threads, and to add "reflections" when you experience something meaningful in your life. Users then receive encouragement from friends, or "supporters." A few of the "threads" on Tangle are about personal satisfaction (traveler, connoisseur), but the vast majority involve causes greater than self: family (partner, parent, sibling), community (caregiver, connector, guardian), service (volunteer, advocate, healer) and spirituality (seeker, believer). Even the work-related threads (mentor, leader) suggest a higher purpose.
The column includes this caveat. "I have no idea whether they will succeed. But as a columnist writing about how to keep our humanity in the 21st century, I believe it's important to focus on people who are at least trying..."
"Quite possibly, West Co. and the various other enterprises trying to nudge technology in a more humane direction will find that it doesn't work socially or economically — they don't yet have a viable product, after all — but it would be a noble failure."
"When I heard that this platform would harness AI to help us live more meaningful lives, I wanted to know more..." Their bid for redemption is West Co. — the Workshop for Emotional and Spiritual Technology Corporation — and the platform they're testing is called Tangle, a "purpose discovery tool" that uses AI to help users define their life purposes, then encourages them to set intentions toward achieving those purposes, reminds them periodically and builds a community of supporters to encourage steps toward meeting those intentions. "A lot of people, myself included, have been on autopilot," Stone said. "If all goes well, we'll introduce a lot of people to the concept of turning off autopilot."
But will all go well? The entrepreneurs have been at it for two years, and they've scrapped three iterations before even testing them. They still don't have a revenue model. "This is a really hard thing to do," Stone admitted. "If we were a traditional start-up, we would have probably been folded by now." But the two men, with a combined net worth of at least hundreds of millions, and possibly billions, had the luxury of self-funding for a year, and now they have $29 million in seed funding led by Spark Capital...
[T]he project revolves around training existing AI models in "what good intentions and helpful purposes look like," explained Long Cheng, the founding designer. When you join Tangle, which is invitation-only until this spring at the earliest, the AI peruses your calendar, examines your photos, asks you questions and then produces "threads," or categories that define your life purpose. You're free to accept, reject or change the suggestions. It then encourages you to make "intentions" toward achieving your threads, and to add "reflections" when you experience something meaningful in your life. Users then receive encouragement from friends, or "supporters." A few of the "threads" on Tangle are about personal satisfaction (traveler, connoisseur), but the vast majority involve causes greater than self: family (partner, parent, sibling), community (caregiver, connector, guardian), service (volunteer, advocate, healer) and spirituality (seeker, believer). Even the work-related threads (mentor, leader) suggest a higher purpose.
The column includes this caveat. "I have no idea whether they will succeed. But as a columnist writing about how to keep our humanity in the 21st century, I believe it's important to focus on people who are at least trying..."
"Quite possibly, West Co. and the various other enterprises trying to nudge technology in a more humane direction will find that it doesn't work socially or economically — they don't yet have a viable product, after all — but it would be a noble failure."
That's not what I asked for (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem with social media is that it has become enshittified with algorithmically promoted content from people I don't follow. I actually thought Facebook was kind of nice back when it was just posts of things my friends and family were sharing, but now that's all buried underneath a mountain of engagement bait and insipid short format videos.
So, if you want to fix social media, bring back the option of only showing content from people you follow.
And no, I don't want any AI features in my social media. Nobody does. Begone with that slop.
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"The problem with social media is that it has become enshittified with algorithmically promoted content from people I don't follow."
Is that the problem? I'm sure Doctorow would think so, and expects his fee.
Meanwhile, the problem with social media is far more fundamental than that, but you wouldn't know.
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Not engagement bait. Enragement bait. Because getting people enraged is far better for engagement than various brain tricks. It hits the lizard part of the brain the quickest and you automatically hit the Share button as a reflex.
Far easier than trying to engage you using traditional means.
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AI is perfect for you.
It will read all the content you dislike, block them automatically, answer all your desired contents, invent content and photos of funny locations to post, making your invented actions go viral while you go fishing and never have to check your account anymore.
Finally we'll have half a dozen AIs on half a dozen Social Media Sites and those AIs will watch each other's ads.
Re:What this really is (Score:4, Informative)
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AI, which is incapable of deriving meaning or even determining relevance, is going to tell us humans how to build purposeful life. This is peak idiocy.
I think "peak idiocy" might be the fact that these clowns have managed to attract "$29 million in seed funding led by Spark Capital"
AI powered pets.com (Score:2)
"More Purposeful Lives" (Score:1)
If they also mention "lived experience" and "equity", I'm gonna need a bucket.
Tough audience to sell to (Score:2)
If I hated social media (and I do), whyever would I be interested in a social media app? It would be like selling meat to a vegetarian.
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It's for people who "hate social media" but not enough to quit using it. Kind of like a filtered cigarette, or artificially sweetened soda.
The arrogance of tech bros has no limits (Score:5, Insightful)
The solutions to the problems they enumerate are not going to be found in technology -- any technology. They're to be found in providing the basic necessities of life, because -- surprise! -- people who have a place to live and have medical care and have food on the table and have some reason to look forward to a better life tend to do much better than people who are homeless, sick, and starving. This isn't complicated. It doesn't require years of development. It just requires writing checks, whether to individuals or to the organizations that work their butts trying to provide these things. Do you have any idea what the average metropolitan food bank could do with a hundred thousand dollars? Do you have any idea what an inner city medical clinic could do with a quarter million? Do you have any idea what housing advocates for the homeless could do with half a million?
No, money doesn't solve every problem -- of course not. But it can take huge bites of the obvious ones, and in doing so, make the others much more tractable. E.g.,, it's much easier to address someone's trauma if they have a home and food and some sense of stability and security. It's a lot harder if they don't know where they're sleeping tonight or when they'll get to eat again.
This is just a couple of arrogant young punks who think they know better than the professionals who've been actually helping people for decades. It's the "only we can fix it" mentality writ large, and it's a horrible waste of money that could be used to improve lives today.
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They are well intentioned.
Bullshit. They invested in AI and now they are part of the Ouroboros. These cunts have zero good intentions.
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They are well intentioned. How about calling them starry-eyed young idealists, naive to the pitfalls of their utopian vision? Don't be cynical when you can be smugly superior.
29 million bucks in seed capital makes it cross the line from "plucky upstart" to "rich arrogant scumbag." Also anyone who has Pinterest on their CV is already responsible for so much enshittification that we know they are probably not naive starry eyed idealists.
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I smell (Score:2)
am upcoming Black Mirror episode.
The people that hate Social Media hate AI (Score:2)
How many people out there hate social media but want AI? Both focus on Tech companies gathering data and treating people as categories.
It's the new kind of prejudice. All those Trump lovers must like guns. All those Trump haters must love granola.
There are people out there that love YouTube but have no account. They never like or subscribe because they value their privacy more than getting notified about videos they may like.
There are people out there that miss out on partyies and events because they re
I hate AI, build a site for that! (Score:2)
Define your life purpose (Score:4, Funny)
To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.
So, I guess that's "become POTUS".
Fascinating... (Score:2)
My bullshit meter (Score:3)
Is pegged.
My brother in Christ (Score:2)
FTA... (Score:2)
" But as a columnist writing about how to keep our humanity in the 21st century, I believe it's important to focus on people who are at least trying..."
...to what ? jam AI in places no human wants ?! These jackholes aren't out for any human except themselves.
What an idea (Score:2)
More preachy bulldust? (Score:2)
Who says humans even need a life purpose? What if I just want to eat pizza, play Fortnite, and die of coronary disease?
I've gotten a fair amount of short-format videos shoved at me on social media that shall remain unnamed. Driven by a load of psychological bulldustery-driven exhortation. Be a better version of yourself. Be more socially engaging. Speak better. How to dress better, walk better, exercise better, eat better, sleep better. Make more money, rise up the career ladder, "win" at life. First world
Dystopian headline (Score:2)
As if we needed more dystopian buzzword headlines these days, this one really takes the cake with the purposeful-life thru AI-socialmedia angle.
Do I have this right... (Score:2)
You get to interact with a chatbot, not other people at all? And so your "meaningful life" is in VR, and probably buying what the chatbot tells you to?
Can we just set a chatbot to log in, and then they can just talk to each other, and leave us alone?