About a month ago, Michael Sayman realized he could finally build the app he'd been thinking about for years: a social network where everyone but you is an AI bot. Large language models are finally good enough and cheap enough that the experience actually feels social and useful and not like a gimmick or a game. And so, after years of waiting and months of testing the latest models, Sayman got to work.
The app he developed is called SocialAI and has become a viral phenomenon since its launch. (He only told me that it was downloaded 20,000 times in the first few days – but the number has increased significantly since then.) Some people found it fun and useful; other people thought it felt deeply dystopian. Is a social network still a social network, they wondered, when you're the only person present? Still others thought the whole thing was some kind of art project, a social commentary on the state of the online world.
In this episode of The VergecastSays Sayman, it's really all of the above. But above all, it is an attempt to develop a completely new way of interacting with AI models. Instead of a chatbot trying to give you the best answer to your query, SocialAI gives you options and filters in the form of answers. When you respond to a bot or add an answer to your favorites, the model learns more about what you're looking for – and you can choose your own AI adventure instead of just hoping the model gets it right.
“Over the last decade, social media giants have iterated tirelessly with all the data in the world,” Sayman says, “to try to perfect an interface that allows people to interact with as many people and viewpoints as possible.”, Right? ” SocialAI looks like Twitter or Threads, he says, not to trick you into forgetting that all responders are AI, but because we all know exactly how social networks work. “It's not social for social network's sake , but social for the sake of the social interface.”
SocialAI is still in its very early stages, which you can immediately tell by the quality of some of the responses. Still, Sayman says he's already seeing encouraging usage and feedback — and he has lots of ideas for where the app should go next. The future of AI probably isn't a text box, but it probably isn't exactly a Twitter clone either. We discuss some of the features he plans to bring to market, how the user interface might change over time, why he sees social network design as the new skeuomorphism, and whether SocialAI will make a business case over time.
Ultimately, Sayman doesn't view SocialAI as a dystopian nightmare. What's really dystopian, he says, is the current state of things, in which you never know who is human and who isn't, and in which everyone is constantly posting on increasingly dangerous and problematic platforms. “I’m not trying to replace human connection,” he says. “I'm trying to help people find a way to have a second option when that person isn't there for them, so they don't have to rush to social media.” Next time you need to vent, hope he that you decide to tell the bots instead. They will be there for you.
If you'd like to learn more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started: