Overview of Bloomberg’s Odd Lots Live: AI Is Upending the Lives of People Who Do Social Media Professionally
This live Odd Lots conversation with Taylor Lorenz and Rachel Carton explores how AI is reshaping the creator economy, social media marketing, and platform dynamics. The core tension: AI makes content cheaper and faster to produce, but it also raises fears of “slop,” weakens trust, and changes what kinds of creators and formats still matter.
Key Takeaways
AI is already changing how social media teams work
- The biggest immediate disruption is not AI replacing creators outright, but managers and executives using AI to judge and shape creative work.
- Rachel Carton described marketers whose bosses:
- run memes through Claude to ask if they’re funny,
- only approve ideas if they came from Copilot,
- and generally outsource instinct to AI.
- Her main critique: companies are adopting AI with little training, structure, or guardrails, unlike past workflow tools that came with onboarding and standards.
Consumers dislike being tricked more than they dislike AI itself
- The guests agreed that audiences often react negatively when they discover a brand used AI, especially if it feels like a shortcut.
- For brands, creative effort signals product quality and trustworthiness.
- But for low-stakes entertainment, people may enjoy AI-generated content if they aren’t feeling deceived.
- Example: AI meme/viral content can be popular.
- Example: AI-generated YouTube scripts often get positive comments if viewers don’t realize they’re AI-made.
AI is better for some content than others
- Taylor Lorenz argued AI is especially useful for:
- how-to content,
- utility content,
- and tasks like SEO captions or basic image editing.
- It is less useful for:
- original commentary,
- highly personal parasocial content,
- and work that depends on a distinct human voice.
- Their consensus: AI can assist, but it is not a great substitute for writing, editing, or truly original creative judgment.
The “democratization” story is uneven
- AI lowers the barrier to entry for making content, but that does not mean all creators benefit equally.
- Tutorial-style creators may be most vulnerable because AI can answer practical questions faster than a human creator.
- Creators with a recognizable persona, recurring format, or strong point of view may become more valuable.
What’s Working Now in the Creator Economy
Serial formats are outperforming “just sharing your life”
- The guests argued that the era of the generic lifestyle influencer is fading.
- What works now looks more like a show:
- a repeatable premise,
- a clear visual identity,
- and episodic consistency.
- Example they cited: a creator who films a restaurant cook’s daily routine with Meta glasses and has grown very quickly.
Discovery depends on non-follower reach
- Instagram’s current logic favors formats that reach beyond your existing audience:
- Reels and carousels = discovery and non-follower reach
- Single-image posts = mostly for current followers
- Stories and DMs = community and closer relationships
- That makes “entertainment value” more important than ever.
Platform and Audience Shifts
Social platforms are being pressured by AI slop
- AI accounts can post at a much higher volume, increasing the amount of low-quality content in feeds.
- Taylor Lorenz noted that some of the most-viewed reels are already AI-generated.
- One concern is that AI content monetizes confusion — for example, fake behind-the-scenes or “proof of reality” clips that mislead viewers.
Meta looks vulnerable; Google may be better positioned
- Lorenz suggested Meta feels like a more old-school 2010s social platform and may be less well positioned than Google in the AI era.
- The guests also suggested that as feeds become noisier, people may move toward:
- DMs,
- chat interfaces,
- group chats,
- and more private/community-based spaces.
Threads was singled out as especially toxic
- Carton described Threads as uniquely prone to pile-ons because its algorithm heavily promotes replies.
- She also criticized its AI-generated summaries as inaccurate.
- Their overall view: Threads can feel more chaotic and reactive than X/Twitter.
AI, Screen Time, and the Future of Interaction
Chatbots may not replace scrolling so much as change how people spend time
- Lorenz argued the bigger trend is not “people stop using social media,” but that screen-based interaction itself may decline over time.
- She pointed to wearables, smart home devices, glasses, and other ambient interfaces as the next phase.
- Joe Weisenthal pushed back, arguing people may still spend plenty of time on screens — just in different ways.
A more important threat to social platforms may be people logging off
- The conversation suggested that the real competition is not chatbot time vs. scroll time, but:
- entertainment vs. utility,
- and active engagement vs. general digital fatigue.
- If AI makes some tasks easier and devices more ambient, people may spend less time deliberately opening apps.
Related Bloomberg Tech Minute: AI Music
- A brief Bloomberg segment highlighted Suno, an AI music company that lets users generate songs from text prompts.
- Users can upload lyrics, sing with their own voice, or use Suno-provided voices.
- The company has attracted major investor interest, with a valuation over $5 billion.
- The music industry’s biggest concern: compensation and rights for artists whose work may have helped train these models.
- Another question raised: whether AI-generated songs will have lasting appeal or just be novelty hits.
Bottom Line
The episode’s central message is that AI is not simply replacing social media professionals — it is changing the rules of what counts as good, trustworthy, and valuable content. The winners are likely to be creators who:
- build repeatable formats,
- have a distinct voice,
- use AI as a support tool rather than a substitute,
- and understand that audiences still care about authenticity, even when they enjoy AI-generated entertainment.