TikTok Is Testing an In-App AI Chatbot Called "Tako"
Tako, like other #AI chatbots, is being marketed as a content recommendation engine; it'll be accessible near the "your profile" of the TikTok interface.
When tapped, the new icon (designed in the shape of a ghost 👻) will kick off Tako, which will:
✅ talk w/users,
✅ respond to questions,
✅ and make content recommendations.
The continuing challenge with these Tako-like, persuasive technologies (now boosted further by AI chatbot tech) is the developing company's devotion to keeping users glued on-screen for as long as possible.
Keeping audiences glued to their platforms or extended durations requires social media companies, like TikTok and others, to intentionally build persuasive designs and experiences (like Tako) that keep users engaged for as long as possible. Such features tend to erode our sense of our agency and autonomy.
Yet most users don't notice or consider such things when they're swiping, engaging with, and consuming content.
Other users outright 'don't give a sh*t' (I've so been told this verbatim).
In either case, users pretty much just want to be entertained, discover new content, and stay connected.
This non-chalant passiveness, however, is akin to an en-masse surrender our collective psyche; one where we voluntarily — and effortlessly — hand over our precious mindshare and finite attention to social media platforms without resistance or repercussion.
Why?
Because users simply derive way too much "entertainment" or "utility" or "inspiration" from said platforms, they see/believe/think/conclude "the good" far outweighs "the bad."
It's that *very* kind of succumbed thinking and collective psyche-surrender that TikTok and other social platforms $$bank on$$ — because their ad models require keeping us glued and engaged for as long as possible.
Getting back to TikTok
The company admits its Tako AI chatbot goal is "to encourage users to watch more videos."
This "more" goal, subsidized by endless scroll features and the like, is a typical staple of ad-based engagement models common to such platforms, where the driving force is to arrest your attention (increasingly so) at any and all algorithmic costs.
So while TikTok positions Tako as a helpful feature, I hope users who care about monitoring their screen times and longterm exposures to AI chatbots and addictive algorithms will proceed with caution.
With endless waves of AI chatbot deployments across digital media & cybertechnologies, we must do even more to protect our vulnerable psyches.
Because if you thought social media platforms were already addictive *before* the AI chatbot debut, then you'd best buckle up to what further awaits us all.
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