Over the last two decades platforms have become extremely popular where people from all over the world are able to connect and share all kinds of content. The rise of social media was also accompanied by individuals who saw the potential in sharing content, and started to focus on becoming a prominent content creator. In the most recent years, the introduction of genAI has affected the field of content creation on social media. This raises the question whether genAI does more good or causes more harm. For both sides something can be said.
GenAI is constantly improving in its creative capabilities including text, image, video’s and many other creations. Combined with the open accessibility of genAI applications, users from all backgrounds can now participate in creative processes without the need to possess creative expertise (Universiteit van Amsterdam, 2025). Where social media was a field of creative uniqueness 10 years ago, genAI has removed some of the creative barriers that were blocking other users from being content producers. User’s that previously were only receivers of information are being encouraged by AI to be more active. GenAI has countless different applications that can be used to assist non-experienced social media users with delivering posts. ChatGPT can be used for idea generation, images can be generated by Midjourney (Shepherd, 2024) and other applications can even generate entire artificial video’s based on an user’s prompt.
Furthermore, GenAI has the characteristic to be very quick with its content generation allowing for frequent posts. But more posts are not always beneficial for a social media platform as they do not guarantee more quality. This can be because of unoriginality that emerges from users focusing to much on quantity instead of the quality of the content. Additionally, the increased accessibility of genAI can lead to its misuse which can be displayed on social media. Take deepfakes for instance; while deepfakes existed before genAI, there are now more concerns because genAI can create them so easily (The university of Arizona, n.d.). Deepfakes are digital alterations of real people that are often used to spread misinformation. Combined with the quick spread of social media post, instances like this impact social media in a negative way.
Governance
In my opinion, genAI is able deliver more value than harm to social media platforms. But this is only possible when companies ensure sufficient governance efforts. Fortunately, platforms have moved along with the progress of genAI by establishing policies. TikTok, for instance, ask users to label their content as AI generated in the case it is generated or edited by AI (TikTok, n.d.). This allows the content creators to be creative with the use of AI while at the same time protecting the users from being misled. Given the rapid improvements of genAI applications, social media companies should continue to monitor and update their governance when needed, to ensure qualitative contributions by genAI.
References:
Shepherd, I. (2024, March 10). How AI impacts social media content creation. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ianshepherd/2024/03/10/how-will-ai-impact-social-media-content-creators/
The university of Arizona. (n.d.). What is a “deepfake?” And how can I recognize images that have been created with generative AI? – University of Arizona Libraries. https://ask.library.arizona.edu/faq/407977#:~:text=Deepfakes%20were%20around%20long%20before,them%20so%20easy%20to%20create.
TikTok. (n.d.). About AI-generated content. https://support.tiktok.com/en/using-tiktok/creating-videos/ai-generated-content
Universiteit van Amsterdam. (2025, August 29). Call for Papers: GeNAI & Creative Practices – Responsible Digital Transformations. Responsible Digital Transformations – University of Amsterdam. https://rdt.uva.nl/genai–creative-practices/conference/genai–creative-practices.html
Hi, interesting topic! There is of course a lot to be said about the effects of GenAI. And I’m convinced you touched to most important topics on the effects of Generative AI for social media. I see where you’re coming from and agree with the positive contribution of GenAI on creativity areas. But still, would your opinion about the contributing value of genAI change if the the monitoring policies wouldn’t be as strict and careful as they are now?
Hi Roos, thank you for your comment! Really relevant, yet difficult question as I cannot imagine social media platforms that do not develop strict policies against GenAI. Then it basically goes back to whether you think people will use GenAI for good or not. Unfortunately, I do think that people will make misuse of less strict policies. While this group can be relatively small, the fast-spreading nature of social media can enable them to reach a large user base and infect them with malicious posts. Combined with how easy and fast it is to produce AI generated information, I’m afraid genAI can have severe consequences for the platforms and their users, in case of less strict/careful policies.
What do you think?
Very interesting blog! I really appreciated your point that GenAI lowers the barriers to entry, enabling more people to become content creators. At the same time, I also recognize the risk that this prioritizes quantity over quality. Deepfakes, in particular, are a prime example of how quickly AI can be misused. I wonder if labeling, as TikTok is currently doing, will ultimately be enough to truly protect users from misleading content.
Thank you for commenting, Evie! Good point, and I do not think labeling as TikTok is doing now will be enough. I do think that labeling is the most efficient way of making user’s aware of AI generated content. However, the labeling practices are far from optimal yet. On TikTok for instance, users can label their content as AI generated, but what if they refuse to do so? Automated labeling is on the way, but not fully accurate and implemented yet. What are the consequences if they fail to recognize AI generated content? Companies should continuously spend resources on ensuring responsible AI use.