AI Is Upending the Lives of People Who Do Social Media Professionally
In a live OddLots episode, Taylor Lorenz and Rachel Carton discuss how AI is disrupting the social media and influencer economy, examining both the threats to content creators and the cultural shift toward serialized entertainment over lifestyle sharing. They explore the tension between AI-generated content (which consumers dislike when they feel deceived) and practical AI applications in marketing, while arguing that smartphone-based social media may be declining in favor of ambient, wearable-based interactions.
Summary
Taylor Lorenz and Rachel Carton joined Traci Allaway and Joe Weisenthal for a live OddLots discussion in Los Angeles focused on how artificial intelligence is transforming the creator and influencer economy. Rachel Carton, a social media consultant and author of the Substack "Link in Bio," emphasized that AI is being forced upon marketing professionals primarily through their managers, who suffer from what she calls "AI brain"—outsourcing gut instincts to AI tools. She documented cases where social managers have had their creative work rejected by bosses who only trust ideas generated through AI copilots, creating a demoralizing dynamic rather than an augmenting one. Carton advocated for thoughtful AI implementation with proper training and guardrails, comparing it to how companies like Conde Nast systematically onboarded tools like Asana.
Taylor Lorenz, founder of Usermag, provided perspective on broader cultural attitudes toward AI content. She noted that while consumers actively dislike AI-generated content when they know it's AI (viewing it as a shortcut that reflects poorly on brand effort), they often enjoy AI content unknowingly—citing YouTubers reading AI-generated scripts to positive comments. The core issue, both guests agreed, is deception: consumers dislike feeling tricked, but react differently when they knowingly consume low-stakes AI content like "Fruit Love Island" memes versus branded marketing from companies they patronize.
On the question of creator viability in an AI-saturated landscape, Lorenz argued that content creators making instructional "how-to" content will struggle since AI provides more efficient answers, but creators producing unique commentary and opinion-based content remain valuable because their work isn't easily replicable. Carton noted that the platforms themselves are struggling to maintain quality as AI accounts can post 50 times daily, flooding feeds with content designed to trigger engagement through confusion and viral mechanics rather than genuine value.
Both guests addressed misconceptions about AI existential risk, with Lorenz emphasizing that anthropomorphizing AI is problematic for policy discussions—these are computer programs, not sentient beings, and should be evaluated as such in liability debates. The conversation also touched on Meta's declining influence and the unexpected toxicity of Threads (which algorithmically amplifies angry replies and group-think pile-ons), as well as the possibility that smartphone-based social media may be in decline as people increasingly interact through wearables and ambient computing.
For creators seeking to grow accounts in 2024-2025, Carton and Lorenz identified serialized content and entertainment-focused strategies as most effective. The era of lifestyle influencing is waning, with successful creators instead developing consistent episodic content (like the cook filming with Meta glasses daily). Instagram's algorithm now prioritizes reaching non-followers through reels and carousels, while community and connection happen primarily through direct messaging and sharing memes with friends rather than public lifestyle updates.
About this episode
<p>Social media is really strange these days: Increasingly, our feeds are starting to look uncanny, as AI slop proliferates all over the Internet. And for the professionals who are tasked with making content, whether it is social media managers or creators, it has been a head-spinning time of change. In this conversation, recorded at the Vermont in Hollywood, we get a primer on social media's AI era with two veteran Internet commentators, Rachel Karten (social media consultant and the author of the Link in Bio newsletter) and Taylor Lorenz (founder of User Mag). We discuss why people are afraid to admit that they love some genres of slop, why the AI discourse is evolving so rapidly, and whether our time online is moving away from scrolling feeds to engaging with chatbots.</p> <p>Read more:<br /><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-23/us-rebukes-australia-for-plan-to-target-social-media-algorithms?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=odd_lots&utm_content=article">US Rebukes Australia for Plan to Target Social Media Algorithms</a><br /><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-21/meta-s-new-muse-ai-app-tops-charts-draws-strong-early-reviews?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=odd_lots&utm_content=article">Meta’s New Muse AI App Tops Charts, Draws Strong Reviews</a></p> <p>Only <a href="http://Bloomberg.com">http://Bloomberg.com</a> subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox each week, plus unlimited access to the site and app. Subscribe at <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots?in_source=oddlotspodcast">bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots</a></p> <p><a href="http://bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots">Subscribe to the Odd Lots Newsletter</a><br /><strong>Join the conversation:</strong> <a href="https://discord.gg/oddlots">discord.gg/oddlots</a></p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>
Key Insights
- Managers implementing AI in marketing teams often bypass employee judgment entirely, asking tools like Claude to evaluate creative work or requiring employees to mock up ideas in copilot interfaces to get boss approval, creating demoralizing rather than augmenting dynamics.
- Consumers actively dislike AI-generated content from brands they patronize because they interpret effort in social media as a reflection of effort in the product itself, but the same consumers unknowingly enjoy AI content and may even praise it in comments when unaware of its origins.
- Instructional and 'how-to' content creators will struggle most in an AI environment because AI provides more authoritative and efficient answers than human creators, while opinion-based and commentary-driven content remains valuable because it cannot be easily replicated.
- Instagram's algorithm now only promotes reels and carousels (the formats that reach non-followers) if they entertain a broad audience, meaning niche content for existing followers gets deprioritized, fundamentally changing what 'social' means on social media platforms.
- The era of lifestyle influencing is declining due to audience backlash and algorithm changes, with successful accounts instead building audiences through serialized, episodic content that functions like daily TV shows rather than personal life documentation.
Topics
Transcript
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