The Collapse of Social Platforms

A prediction for 2030

It’s the end of the year, so I’ll write about something more theoretical that has been on my mind those last few days.

What happens when the line between human and AI content creators vanishes completely? We’re closer to that reality than you might think.

I was out running a few days ago listening to a tech podcast, Silicon Carne. There was an interesting debate around content creation and how platforms like YouTube will kill TV. I’m not sure the root of the talk was that challenging; TV seems already a thing of the past at this stage. But as they started to talk about AI, things started to get interesting.

People often have limited visions of what’s possible, shaped by their beliefs and ideas about what’s acceptable.

Most of the discussion revolved around how AI would be able to create content, how it would be used to help producers and content creators, and what it would mean for platforms and consumers.

Based on that, the debate continued about how much AI would be acceptable in content creation on platforms.

I think this is very short-sighted.

What’s Already Happening

You don’t have to look far to see AI being used in content production; that’s a fact. But it’s still very human-driven and AI-assisted. There are a lot of tech limitations for now that prevent pushing the throttle to the max, but it is certain that those limitations will go away very soon. Look at what OpenAI is building with Sora, and you’ll have a glimpse of the future.

People are already leveraging this tech to move to the next step: creating content, communities, and creators that do not exist in real life. Instagram and OnlyFans are seeing a tsunami of AI-based girls managed by digital pimps. Does it work? It sure does; look at the numbers.

This is where many people start to get confused and want to draw a line based on morale or their beliefs that this model will not be applicable to “regular” content creation.

I believe this is false; it’s already happening.

A Glimpse into the Future

People often argue that having AI-generated content from a content creator would feel inauthentic and that they wouldn’t watch it. I say that this is having a very high opinion of your brain and little faith in the evolution of AI.

What if I told you that MrBeast did not exist? You’d say, of course, he does! Really? How can you know he exists? Did you ever meet him in real life? Did you ever talk to him?

What if, tomorrow, you’d connect to YouTube and see 10 new MrBeast videos with fancy new ideas that’d fit your taste and be very appealing to your brain? They might or might not be AI-generated; in any case, you’d have a good time.

Now, let’s take a step back and imagine having a brand new content creator everyone’s talking about. Nobody heard of them before. You watch the content, and you like it. Does this person really exist, or is it just an AI? How would you ever know? There might be rumors that a friend of a friend met him in a restaurant… but is that the reality?

At some point, there will be no way to know if a content creator is a real person or not. As time passes and technology evolves, it will be close to impossible to distinguish human creation from AI creation. This is what most people don’t want to believe because it shuffles too much their current reality.

Believe it or not, it’s happening.

How Platform Might Crash

The ability to generate endless streams of AI-driven content will undoubtedly transform platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. In the short term, the appeal of hyper-tailored, dopamine-driven content may captivate users and drive unprecedented engagement.

But at what cost?

As AI-generated content floods these platforms, the lines between human connection and algorithmic interaction will blur. The authenticity that once set content creators apart—real people sharing real experiences—will be diluted in a sea of indistinguishable, machine-generated personas. Even if platforms introduce measures like “human-verified” badges, the deeper question remains: will people still care? If the content entertains, informs, or inspires, does its origin matter?

This shift could erode one of social media's fundamental purposes: fostering connection. If users begin to see platforms as spaces dominated by machines rather than humans, the sense of community these platforms once provided may crumble. The allure of authentic interaction—the very reason social media exploded in the first place—could fade, leaving behind a world where “social” media is anything but social.

This trend raises profound questions in the broader societal context. Will our online spaces become environments where we primarily engage with algorithms instead of people? As AI infiltrates every email, phone call, and comment, will technology become a tool for connection or a barrier to it?

Perhaps this is where the pendulum swings back to real life. In a world saturated with AI interactions, the simplest moments of human connection—a conversation over coffee, a shared laugh, or a face-to-face debate—might become rare and precious. Paradoxically, as AI dominates the digital realm, it could reignite our desire for genuine human interaction in the physical world.

Until then, the question isn’t whether AI-generated content will dominate—it’s how we, as creators and consumers, will adapt and what we’ll choose to value in an increasingly artificial landscape.

My prediction is that real life will be the only place you’ll have left to interact with real humans.

Until robots take over, of course.