Instagram Tests AI-Generated Comments: A Human-Free Future?
It’s hard to imagine why anyone would want AI-generated comments, nor why Meta thinks it’s a good idea. What’s also difficult to see is how this development will bring a positive impact to social media engagement. However, Instagram is now experimenting with AI-generated comments on posts, so users don’t even have to come up with their own opinions to respond.
According to app researcher Jonah Manzano, Instagram users are now seeing a “pencil with a star” icon next to comment fields. Tapping the icon generates a list of possible comments a user can post on a video or image. If you’re looking for originality and insightful conversation, it would seem those aspects would be largely missing with this new tool.
Meta also plans to let users create AI bot versions of themselves, which then interact with other users based on chosen personality traits and responses. Social media platforms already have a problem with inauthentic engagement, and this seems to be making it worse.
Of course, this isn’t totally new. LinkedIn already offers AI-generated comments, and Gmail has suggested replies. The main difference here is that Instagram’s proposed responses are more specific, based on the post’s content, so they should, in theory, be better.
So why is Meta pushing AI-generated content for its apps? The goal is to generate more engagement and usage. For example, Meta is reportedly experimenting with AI-generated bot profiles that can interact like humans. The idea is that real users will get more responses from these bots, possibly even hundreds of comments on their posts. Hopefully, in that scenario, more actual humans would also comment, leading to even more interaction.
If Meta only uses real, human replies as an algorithmic indicator (as opposed to its bot responses), then it could still measure reply volume as a marker of engagement. This means the most engaging posts would still get wider exposure, while average posts would also trigger random comments, giving creators a dopamine hit.
But is this what users truly want? Will AI-generated responses feel engaging if users know they aren’t from real people? It seems likely people will generally ignore the fact that these are AI generated in favor of the positive chemical rush they get from the engagement. It may be a logical, smart step for Meta, but it’s hard to imagine the generic, meaningless replies being the future of social interaction. Combined with bot replies, perhaps this is the way forward – augmenting real human interaction with bots to keep users feeling social, interesting, and connected. It may feel like thoughtless comments are taking up space, but the logic may level out, and the initial resistance could be due to a lack of acceptance of what looks set to gradually become the norm.
