AI just got weirder

A band called, ‘Velvet Sundown’ has recently blown up on all the streaming platforms.

Seemingly out of nowhere, they have received more than a million listens in the last month on Spotify alone.

So far, so normal. But it took a mysterious turn, when the ‘band’ put a statement out:

“Someone is attempting to hijack the identity of The Velvet Sundown by releasing unauthorized interviews, publishing unrelated photos, and creating fake profiles claiming to represent us - none of which are legitimate, accurate, or connected in any way to us.”

And then, just days later, they admitted to being an ‘AI provocation’.

So, what does this mean for culture more broadly?

Let’s dig into why this matters…

Great snare, don’t care

Music journalists were in uproar that this band might be entirely AI-generated, especially because they weren’t exactly transparent about it.

But the anti-AI paranoia appears to be predominantly media-led, with the vast majority of non-media folk seemingly nonplussed.

To quote, The Atlantic: “Nobody cares if music is real anymore.”

AI-Tube takeover

It’s not just music where people don’t care if the content is real or AI-generated.

As this article points out, “AI videos are quietly taking over YouTube… YouTube no longer requires you.”

Want proof? Four of the top 10 YouTube channels by subscribers in May featured AI-generated material in every video.

It seems that creators (who brands always follow) are realising that AI is almost essential to keep up with the algorithm’s incessant demand for more content.

Robots sliding into DMs

It’s not just the main feeds that are completely changing; it’s also the DMs and comments, thanks to agentic AI tools.

And, like the content itself, it’s because the warp speed demands of social media algorithms have been impossible to keep up with.

Digiday says: “The most visible way that creators are using agentic AI is to respond to comments and direct messages from fans on social media. In some ways, this use case is a no-brainer: creators are flooded with messages daily and rarely have time to respond.”

What does this mean for marketers?

Some people do care if content was created by AI, but many more can’t tell the difference the and that number will surely only increase.

But there is something bigger here.

We are shifting away from an era dominated by posting lots of different social media ideas, in order to see what resonates to an era where creators and brands simply post many different iterations of the same idea.

To quote an aforementioned article and how YouTube is changing:

“While not all of the videos from these AI channels are identical, the most successful examples tend to find a theme and stick to it.”