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TikTok is an AI app. Not an “ask a bot to do your homework” kind of AI app, but an AI app all the same: Its algorithm processes and acts upon huge amounts of data to keep users engaged. Without that fundamental, freakishly well-tuned technology, TikTok wouldn’t really be anything at all—just another video or shopping platform. The app is set to be banned in the United States, following a decision by the Supreme Court earlier today. But the legacy of its algorithm will live on, as my colleague Hana Kiros wrote in an article for The Atlantic yesterday: “Although it was not the first app to offer an endless feed, and it was certainly not the first to use algorithms to better understand and target its users, TikTok put these ingredients together like nothing else before it.” The app was so effective—so sticky—that every meaningful competitor tried to copy its formula. Now TikTok-like feeds have been integrated into Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, X, even LinkedIn. Today, AI is frequently conflated with generative AI because of the way ChatGPT has captured the world’s imagination. But generative AI is still a largely speculative endeavor. The most widespread and influential AI programs are the less flashy ones quietly whirring away in your pocket, influencing culture, business, and (in this case) matters of national security in very real ways. |
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| There are times when, deep into a scroll through my phone, I tilt my head and realize that I’m not even sure what app I’m on. A video takes up my entire screen. If I slide my finger down, another appears. The feeling is disorienting, so I search for small design cues at the margins of my screen. The thing I’m staring at could be TikTok, or it could be one of any number of other social apps that look exactly like it. Although it was not the first app to offer an endless feed, and it was certainly not the first to use algorithms to better understand and target its users, TikTok put these ingredients together like nothing else before it. It amassed what every app wants: many users who spend hours and hours scrolling, scrolling, scrolling (ideally past ads and products that they’ll buy). Every other major social platform—Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, X, even LinkedIn—has copied TikTok’s format in recent years. The app might get banned in the United States, but we’ll still be living in TikTok’s world. | |
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Algorithmic feeds obviously have a profound effect on how people receive information today. That can be troubling in times of disaster and political strife. As Charlie Warzel wrote for The Atlantic yesterday, “The experience of logging on and consuming information through the algorithmic morass of our feeds has never felt more dispiriting, commoditized, chaotic, and unhelpful than it does right now.” — Damon
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