[ComplexSystems]

> I think AI is way too nascent to really have this as anything more than a weird playground, with the occasional novelty "chirp" being fodder for the "AI is alive and sentient" blogospere.

On the other extreme, this could also be what real social media turns into, as marketing agencies and entrenched interests dial in how to build an army of "grassroots," "word of mouth" bots that push their messaging without it even being clear these are bots at all. Particularly during this next election cycle.

[pixl97]

There are a few futurists warning of this already. The battle of the past decade was about attention, and social medias ability to use up all of yours. The next battle is one of intimacy. That the bots will be good enough to form relationships with people and talk about things like politics with them over long periods of time. As much as you attempt to convince the bot to vote X or Y, or to change it's option on some social phenomenon it never have that societal impact. Meanwhile if you befriend the bot it could have a huge impact on your views.

[kymki]

Turns into? You are describing our current state.