{"id":256265,"date":"2026-01-21T14:41:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T14:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/256265\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T14:41:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T14:41:13","slug":"instagrams-top-boss-is-missing-the-point-about-ai-on-the-platform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/256265\/","title":{"rendered":"Instagram\u2019s top boss is missing the point about AI on the platform"},"content":{"rendered":"

A couple of weeks ago, Adam Mosseri posted to his grid<\/a>. In a series of messages, Instagram\u2019s top exec laid out his concerns for the platform in the coming year, largely around AI. The post was equal parts Working Through It, a sounding of alarms, and a rallying cry to creators who use the platform: AI is about to be everywhere on Instagram, and the best way to stand out from \u201cinauthentic\u201d content is to be an authentic, original voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything that made creators matter \u2014 the ability to be real, to connect, to have a voice that couldn\u2019t be faked \u2014 is now accessible to anyone with the right tools,\u201d he says. The people want gritty realness, not glossy fakeness easily duped by AI. Which may be true, but I think Mosseri is missing the point: Instagram is already overrun by robotic, same-y looking content, and it\u2019s not just made by AI. It\u2019s made by humans churning out post after post following the same formula; one designed to keep us scrolling, liking, and sharing.<\/p>\n

Throughout his post, Mosseri actually makes a few points I agree with. He mentions that as AI-generated imagery gets more sophisticated and easy to produce, it\u2019ll be easier to label what\u2019s real than to put a watermark on every AI-created image. That\u2019s why Google\u2019s Pixel 10 phones put content credentials on every photo taken with one of its cameras, not just the ones made with AI. Mosseri also mentions that AI will get better at mimicking the low-fi phone camera look that signals authenticity \u2014 though I\u2019d argue that\u2019s already happening now<\/a>, not at some point in the near future. There\u2019s a real threat to Instagram\u2019s business model, even if we disagree on the timeline.<\/p>\n

But I have one major problem with his argument. Again and again, Mosseri mentions \u201cauthentic\u201d content, implying something human-made versus inauthentic content created by AI. He calls this a \u201cmajor shift: authenticity is becoming infinitely reproducible.\u201d To be sure, there are plenty of fantastic creators posting great work to Instagram. But a lot of human-made content on Instagram is inauthentic too \u2014 and that\u2019s a feature of algorithmic social media, not a bug.<\/p>\n

Creators learn what the algorithm rewards, and then they go do more of that thing. Eventually, you get a lot of people posting things that look awfully similar. How else do you end up with two influencers whose vibe is so similar<\/a> that nobody could tell if it happened by coincidence or if one of them was copying the other? The algorithm rewards whatever keeps us glued to the platform, not the most thought-provoking or original stuff. The algorithm made us the robots. And that inauthentic, predictable human-made content will be the first thing that AI replaces. That\u2019s what AI does at its core: make predictions based on its training data. Mosseri is right to be worried.<\/p>\n

I opened Instagram recently to a video of a mom repeatedly counting her kids<\/a> as she watches them in a public place. \u201cOne, two, three,\u201d she nods her head as she accounts for them, then starts again. \u201cWho else does this too? It\u2019s not at all exhausting,\u201d the caption reads. I don\u2019t, but that\u2019s because I only have one to keep track of. But I remembered the video, because I watched it back when she posted it in 2024<\/a>. The reposting strategy is a direct play to the algorithm \u2014 casting the same net again to hook some new followers, or maybe seeing if that particular video lands better in a different time and context. I see the same thing on Threads, where a comedian I follow will try the exact same joke weeks or months after they first posted it to try and catch a different algorithmic wave. Even people posting \u201cauthentic\u201d content have to act like robots to win the algorithmic feed.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think any of this comes as a revelation to Mosseri, though. His post hints that he understands this reality: \u201cFlattering imagery is cheap to produce and boring to consume,\u201d he says. Which, sure. But if Instagram\u2019s first job is to show you fresh content when you open the app and keep you scrolling while you\u2019re there, quantity will always win over quality. You know what\u2019s expensive and time-consuming to produce? Content that \u201cfeels real,\u201d the stuff that\u2019s the least sustainable to produce when every influencer is under pressure to become a full-time small business owner of one. Unless Instagram can cook up some brilliant new way to incentivize real creators, I think Mosseri can count on getting more of that inauthentic content \u2014 whether it\u2019s made by a human or not.<\/p>\n